Avengers in Sunnydale
by DWDuck
Summary: After Tony Stark learned that his older sister, Joyce, had passed away, he traveled to Sunnydale to meet his nieces. That's when things really got interesting.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Avengers in Sunnydale

Author: Patrick Mallard (DWDuck)

Setting: Set after the the episode, "The Body" from season five of BtVS and after the Avengers movie. Time has been shifted forward in the Buffyverse ten years so that it takes place in the current Avengersverse.

Disclaimer: I own none of the rights to either BtVS or anything from the Marvel Universe, specifically the Avengers. I'm just thankful that they were created so the rest of us could enjoy these wonderful universes and that Joss Whedon is such a genius.

******Avengers in Sunnydale******

Chapter 1

Pepper Potts leaned against the doorframe leading into the giant rec room near the top of the newly renamed Avengers Tower. A tear slid down her cheek as she watched her boyfriend, Tony Stark, palling around with a Norse god, a super soldier from WWII, a pair of super spies, and a scientist with serious anger management issues. They were having a chili dog eating contest and Clint Barton was holding his own with Thor. The rest of the team had pushed themselves away from the table. Pepper took a deep breath, wiped away the tear, and walked into the room.

Clint stood up from his seat slightly and let loose with an extra loud fart. Thor waved his hand in front of his face and deadpanned, "Perhaps I must seek a new name friend Clint, for truly thou art the real god of thunder." This set the team of superheroes into fits of laughter. Even Steve Rogers, who Tony said had a second shield shoved up his ass most of the time, joined in the raucous fun.

As if he knew Pepper was thinking about him, Steve turned to look her way. He saw the expression on her face and his laughter died instantly. During WWII, he had seen too many Army representatives knocking on too many doors to let people know their loved ones had died not to recognize the look on Pepper's face. He met her eyes and she glanced towards Tony. Steve nodded to Pepper and walked over to Tony, putting his hand on the other man's shoulder gently. For his part, Tony was about to protest being pulled away from the party until he saw Pepper's face. He rose and walked towards Pepper who led him into the hallway.

All conversation had stopped as the Avengers watched Pepper lead Tony out of the room. They couldn't hear what was being said, but they all gasped when Tony dropped to his knees sobbing. Pepper bent down next to him and wrapped her arms around her lover.

Steve's heart broke for the man he had come to think of as a brother. Sure, Tony was the annoying, sarcastic little brother that always made you want to punch him in the nose, but he was still a brother. He sighed loudly as Natasha's communicator beeped loudly.

Natasha Romanoff, the woman S.H.I.E.L.D. had dubbed "The Black Widow", had her communicator out as soon as it chimed, letting her know her boss, Nick Fury, wanted to speak with her. When Natasha was done talking with Fury, she looked over at Tony with compassion at odds with her nickname. "Director Fury said they just received word that Tony's older sister just passed away from a brain aneurysm," she told her team. That statement was met with confused looks from the rest.

Bruce Banner was the first to speak after that bombshell was dropped. "I didn't even know Tony had a sister," he muttered.

Clint stood up from the table, his appetite gone. "Joyce Summers was born Joyce Stark. She was several years older than Tony and had a big blow up with their father over the family business focusing on weapons," he told Bruce. "Joyce renounced her family, married a loser named Hank Summers, and refused to have any contact with any family member other than Tony while he was growing up," he explained. "When Tony took over the family business, he and Joyce had a blow up just like she had with their father. The two of them hadn't spoken since then," he stated sadly.

Natasha took in a deep breath. "Even though she was as removed as humanly possible from the Stark family, S.H.I.E.L.D. kept tabs on Joyce in case someone found out about her and tried to use her to influence Tony," she admitted.

Thor glanced over at the doorway where Tony was still huddled in Pepper's arms. "Will there be a funeral rite?" he inquired. Natasha just nodded her head. Thor had attended the funeral rite for Agent Coulson after Steve had explained to him the purpose of such a gathering. Steve had told him that the reasoning behind a funeral was to gather those who knew the deceased so they could comfort each other. "I will fill in for Anthony when it is his turn to patrol the skies over this country," he decreed.

Bruce looked over at his friend who had just risen on shaky legs. "Where's was his sister living before she passed away?" he inquired.

"A little town in Southern California called Sunnydale," Natasha replied.

******Avengers in Sunnydale******

Rupert Giles had his arm around Dawn Summers' shoulders as they stood next to Joyce's grave. He fought back his own tears as Dawn's flowed freely when they started to lower the casket into the ground. To take his mind off of Dawn and Buffy's suffering, if only for a moment, Giles looked over the crowd of people who had gathered to say their goodbyes to a remarkably brave and resilient woman. He saw many people he knew and a few he didn't. His jaw clenched in anger when he confirmed that Hank Summers hadn't bothered to show. Giles looked past the small gathering and saw two people standing a little ways off, facing their direction. The group consisted of a man and a woman. The man had black hair and a trimmed, black goatee. He was wearing an expensive black suit with black gloves. A pair of dark, designer sunglasses hid his eyes. The woman had bright red hair and was wearing an expensive, but tasteful black dress. She was holding the man's hand.

Giles had been too preoccupied to notice the pair's arrival, but now that he knew they were there, he started to worry. Buffy was still in a state of shock and was in no condition to fight a group of people who had an axe to grind with the Slayer. Giles let his gaze wander back to Buffy and Dawn as he heard Buffy try to stifle a sob. When he looked back up, the strange man and woman had walked away.

Giles was still thinking about the odd pair during the wake that was held at the Summers' home. He pushed the thought out of his mind as he excused himself to the kitchen to make some calls concerning Joyce's affairs so that Buffy wouldn't have to. He nearly yelled into the phone as he lost his patience with the person at the bank who held the mortgage to Joyce's home. "What do you mean you can't find a mortgage for this residence?!" he asked angrily.

"I'm sorry sir, but I don't see any mortgages for the address you gave me," the clerk repeated. "If you wait for just a moment, I'll try looking a different way and find out why it isn't showing up," she offered.

Giles sighed at the truly helpful tone in her voice. "My apologies for being so upset," he offered. The clerk had been genuinely sad to hear Joyce had passed away and was doing everything she could to track down the information Giles had requested.

After a brief pause the clerk said, "Oh... that's why I can't find it." Giles waited patiently for the clerk to continue. "I'm sorry, Mr. Giles. I was only looking at the active accounts. The Summers home had been transferred to inactive status this morning," she told. him.

"What exactly do you mean by 'inactive status'?" Giles requested. The last thing Buffy needed at the moment was a complication at the bank.

"The loan was paid off in full, so it is no longer active," the clerk replied.

Giles frowned in thought. They were still looking through Joyce's papers trying to find if she had any life insurance policies. "Paid off by whom?" he inquired. He heard the clicking of keys as the clerk sent in another inquiry.

"Um... I'm not really sure, Mr. Giles," the clerk admitted. "There's only an account number and routing code for the payout. The computer won't let me trace it back any farther," she said. "Is there anything else I can do for you or the Summers girls?" the clerk asked. "Joyce was always a good customer and made sure to say hi to all the clerks whenever she stopped by," she told him.

"No... no, that will be all. You've been most helpful," Giles replied as he hung up the phone. He looked up from the phone as he heard Willow and Xander usher the last of the visitors out of the home. He walked into the living room and sat between Dawn and Buffy on the large couch next to the windows. He put an arm around each of their shoulders and kissed first the top of Dawn's head and then Buffy's. Both girls leaned into their surrogate father for support.

The relative calm was shattered as the doorbell rang. Xander grimaced and stalked angrily to the door. He threw open the door, ready to yell at whomever was at the door, but his mouth simply hung open when he saw who was standing there. Waiting patiently with his hands clasped behind his back was none other than Tony Stark, owner of Stark Industries and if his press conference was to be believed also the superhero known as Iron Man.

"May I?" Tony asked as he gestured inside the house. Xander only nodded while stepping back to let the celebrity enter. Tony stepped past the wide eyed young man and strode into the living room. He looked around slowly, taking a measure of the people still at the home. Except for the man on the couch, everyone else seemed to be about Buffy's age.

Giles, who had little to do with celebrity gossip or TV in general, looked up at the stranger in the center of the room. He did recognize him from the pair that had stood apart from the others at the funeral. His protective instincts kicked in and he rose to challenge the stranger. "I'm sure the girls appreciate you stopping by to voice your condolences," he stated. "However, the wake is over and it's time for Buffy and Dawn to just be with family," he said. The fact that none of them were truly related made no difference in Giles' mind. The Scoobies were his children and that was that.

"Not really a problem considering I'm their uncle," Tony stated as he took off his sunglasses and put them into his pocket. This caught everyone by surprise, especially Willow who gasped in recognition of one of her nerd heroes. "I'm Tony Stark, Joyce's younger brother," he said simply.

Giles looked from the girls to Tony and back again. Buffy stood up next to Giles. "Mom never talked about her family, but I saw her marriage certificate once. Her maiden name was Stark," she told Giles. "It never even occurred to me she was one of _those_Starks," she added, making the name sound like a slur. Like her mother, she had never approved of a company that sold weapons so that humans could fight humans. She had enough problems with things not human wanting to pick a fight.

Tony managed a weak smile at Buffy's tone of voice. "You sound just like Joyce when she told me take my missile designs, fold them so they were full of sharp corners, and shove them where they really shouldn't go," he told her. His smile melted as he thought of his sister. "The last thing either of us said to each other was said in anger," he admitted. "I would take everything back that I said to her," he assured Buffy. After a pause, he looked down at his shoes in shame. "Especially since she was right all along," he muttered.

Giles heard the pain in the man's voice. He looked around the room and saw all of the chairs had been taken. He put a hand on Tony's arm. "Perhaps we should continue this conversation in the dining room," he suggested. Tony nodded and allowed himself to be led out of the living room. After a moment, everyone else followed.

Tony spent the next few hours telling Buffy and Dawn what he could remember about his older sister. Giles sipped on some scotch Tony had retrieved from the extra large SUV he had driven up in. Unless his taste buds were lying to him, that one bottle probably cost more than what he made in a month being a school librarian. When Tony paused in his storytelling, Giles cleared his throat. "I take it the girls have you to thank for paying off the mortgage on the house," he stated.

Buffy looked at Giles in shock. Her expression turned cold when she looked at Tony. "Thanks, but we can take care of things ourselves," she spat. It grated on her to take any kind of charity.

Tony chuckled a bit at the fire behind Buffy's eyes. It reminded him so much of Joyce. "Yeah... about that," he said. "I wasn't really sure how to go about paying off a mortgage so I just bought the bank itself and paid for the loan out of petty funds," he admitted. "I didn't think you would mind since I transferred ownership of the bank to the half of the company you and Dawn own," he stated smugly.

"Wait... what company? What are you talking about?" Buffy stammered.

"Stark Industries, of course," Tony replied with a smile. "Joyce was right all along and profits have soared since I refocused the company on renewable energies, search and rescue technologies, and space flight research," he told them. "It's only fair that I split the company with her heirs," he said.

Dawn tugged on Willow's arm. "Did he just say Buffy and I now own half of one of the world's largest companies?" she asked, wanting to make sure she wasn't imagining things.

Willow nodded slowly. "Yeah, Dawny, I think your uncle just made you and Buffy billionaires," she confirmed.

"Oh... that's nice," Dawn replied, still stunned from the news.

Tony's cell phone rang startling everyone. The ringtone was an instrumental version of a certain Black Sabbath song. "I'm sorry, but I have to take this," Tony apologized, stepping back from the table. He walked into the hallway to have some privacy. What he didn't know was that Buffy's enhanced slayer hearing let her hear every word of the conversation.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your first meeting with your nieces, sir," a male voice said on the other end of the phone line.

"It's OK, Jarvis, I programmed you not to bother me unless it was really, really important," Tony said. "What's going on?" he asked.

"I have been monitoring the local police frequencies and there are numerous reports of some sort of 'biker' gang on PCP terrorizing the industrial district at the moment," Jarvis replied. "According to the dispatchers, several officers are down and conventional weapons are useless," he relayed. "The police chief has ordered all units to fall back," the AI said.

Tony looked back into the dining room and saw Buffy looking at him with an odd look on her face. "I guess I'll have to cut this meeting short," he muttered, hanging up his phone. He walked back into the dining room, drained his glass of scotch in one gulp, and put the empty glass down. "Something has come up," he said simply. "I'll have my girlfriend call you to set up a time to sign all the papers transferring half of the company to you," he told his nieces. "I would also like to set up a time when we can get to know each other better," he said. "How about dinner tomorrow?" he offered.

Tony had walked out of the room before Buffy or Dawn could answer. The sisters and the rest of the Scoobies followed Tony outside to his SUV. Instead of getting in the driver's seat, Tony pressed a button at the back. A sort of cot looking contraption slid out of the back and Tony laid down on it. The cot retracted back into the SUV, taking Tony with it. The Scoobies heard a series of whirring and clanking noises before the roof of the SUV suddenly split open. A red and gold armored figured floated out of the opening, his hands, feet, and chest glowing a brilliant blue. Iron Man looked down at Buffy and said, "I'll send a car to pick you guys up at around eight." He looked up at the clouds and rocketed skywards at almost the speed of sound.

Dawn followed Iron Man's flight until he was out of her line of sight. She looked over at her sister and grinned. "I totally want one of those!" she exclaimed eagerly.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ever since her mother's death, Buffy had been walking around in a grief induced fog. Watching a family member head off to fight a battle that should have been hers broke her out of it. Tony might be wearing some sort of super armor, but she doubted that he had much experience dealing with creatures from the dark. Some of things she faced could do magic, and no suit of armor could protect him if they started slinging spells at him. She walked over to a potted plant near the front door, lifted the plant out with one hand, and pulled out a wooden stake with the other. She let the plant drop back into the pot as she locked eyes on Dawn. "No, you can't have one," she told her younger sister.

Dawn was about to protest, but she stayed silent after Giles made a shushing motion with his hand. He looked at the stake in Buffy's hand and arched an eyebrow. "Going out on patrol?" he inquired.

Buffy used the stake to point towards the industrial district of town. "Tony had some guy named Jarvis monitoring the police radio," she said. "Sunnydale's finest pulled out when they had another run in with a so called 'biker gang on PCP', which we all know is Sunnydale-ese for vampires," she stated. "I'm not letting Tony fight them alone. I'm the Slayer and I'll be damned before I let a family member fight my fights for me," she said stubbornly.

Giles nodded his head and Buffy thought she saw a flash of pride in his eyes as he said, "Yes, quite." He jerked his head towards the main part of town. "Off you go. The rest of us will keep an eye on Dawn in case Glory decides to attack," he assured Buffy. Buffy took in a deep breath and ran off as fast as her Slayer abilities would take her. After she was out of earshot, Giles smiled wryly. "At least we know which side of the family Buffy inherited her proclivity for rushing into danger head first from," he chuckled.

High above Sunnydale, Tony slowed down his approach as Jarvis scanned the area. "Pardon me, sir, but I'm afraid I have to perform a suit diagnoses," Jarvis apologized. "It will only be moment," he assured Tony as the AI took systems offline one at time to check their functioning. The only thing Tony noticed was a brief flicker of his HUD icons before a read out on the bottom verified everything was operating at normal levels.

"Jarvis, you did a full pre-flight check before we left Buffy's house," Tony reminded the AI. "What's going on?" he inquired.

There was a pause before Jarvis spoke, itself something of an anomaly. "I'm not exactly certain what is going on. I'm receiving conflicting inputs," Jarvis admitted.

Tony swung his feet under him so he could hover in place. "Now's not the time to go buggy on me, Jarvis," he chided. "Explain," he ordered.

A top down view of several large warehouses appeared in front of Tony. There were three red dots huddled together at the end of a blind alley. "This is a result of my infrared heat scan," Jarvis explained. "Here is a live video feed of the same area," Jarvis stated as another view was overlayed on top of the first. The three red dots looked like young women. The women were surrounded by 10-15 men. One of the men used a broken pipe to smash out a window near the women just to intimidate them. "The attackers are not registering any heat signatures," Jarvis pointed out.

"Stealth suits?" Tony offered, thinking of the most likely scenario. In answer to his idea, Jarvis zoomed in on one of the attackers. The man was wearing a business suit from the late 60's, complete with black and yellow checkered pants. "OK, not stealth suits," Tony conceded. "Oh well, I guess we'll figure it out after we mop the alley with the guys," he said cheerfully. He rotated at the waist and shot towards the ground.

The lead vampire smiled evilly at the three college students they had cornered. He figured they must have been transfer students to the school since anyone who grew up in Sunnydale knew you didn't wander the streets after dark. The vampire put on his game face and savored the screams the women graced him with. He reached over and grabbed one of the women by the throat and lifted her up as if she weighed nothing at all. "Scream again, it always wets my appetite," he ordered.

The vampire looked up when a voice above them boomed, "Put the woman down!" With a smirk, the vampire flicked his wrist, snapping the woman's neck. He tossed the dead body to his pack who descended on the body, ripping and tearing to get every last drop of blood out.

Tony only glanced at the dead woman for a moment before slamming into her murderer. The vampire was knocked back so hard, he dislodged several bricks in the building behind him. Tony was surprised when the attacker stood up and brushed dust off his clothes. The vampire braced his feet on the wall and launched himself at the metal intruder. Jarvis over-rode Tony's arm control and swung his right arm over to catch the "man" by the throat in mid-air. The vampire banged his hands on the metal arm impotently, unable to free himself.

Tony took over again and simply raised his arm, lifting the thing off of its feet. "Thing" was the only word he could come up with now that he got a good look at it. For the most part, it looked human, but its forehead was covered with several brow ridges. The thing had yellow eyes and long, sharp canines protruding out of its mouth. "Tony, I've noticed something strange about the attackers," Jarvis said, always the master of understatement.

"You mean other than they're not human?" Tony replied sarcastically.

"Yes," Jarvis stated. "The pressure sensors in your gauntlet are not registering a pulse. Also, I am not reading any signs of respiration except right before the creature spoke," it explained. On Tony's HUD several smaller images appeared. They were all close up shots of the attacking gang's necks. "Since we have landed, I have not detected a carotid pulse on anyone other than the women," Jarvis said.

The vampire started kicking Tony's armored legs in another attempt to break free from the iron grasp. Tony replied by punching the thing in the face with his free hand, stunning it for a moment. "What are you trying say, Jarvis?" he asked.

Again there was a slight pause as the AI double checked its facts. "That information combined with their lack of body heat leads me to conclude that the creatures attacking the women are not alive as we know it," Jarvis surmised.

"Huh," was all Tony could say as he mulled things over. While he was looking around the alley at the creatures, one of them snuck up behind him and tried to bite what it thought was a soft spot at the armor's neck joint. One of the vampire's fangs got stuck in the titanium mesh and was ripped out of the beast's mouth when Tony back-fisted him in the face. Tony spun around and flung the creature he was holding at his second attacker. The two vampires went down in a heap next to a large trash bin.

The vampire leader shoved his pack mate off him and snarled as he rose. He stepped behind the trash bin and shoved it with all of his vampire strength. The bin smashed into Iron Man and knocked him to the ground. The vampire looked on in horror as his opponent stood up, his armor not even dented. Iron Man picked up the trash bin and held it over his head. The vampire leader and his now one fanged friend turned and tried to run. The lopsided vampire managed to leap to a fire escape ledge two stories above them. His leader wasn't so fortunate. Iron man brought the bin down on him, cutting the vampire in two at the waist, and burying the bin into the street.

"You jerk!" the vampire hissed at Iron Man. Tony was surprised that the thing was still alive, let alone able to talk. "Do you know how long it's going to take to grow a new set of legs?!" the vampire whined.

Buffy stepped out of the shadows and stood over the vampire leader. "Is that one of those unanswerable questions like 'what is the sound of one hand clapping'?" she inquired sweetly. The vampire had time to open its eyes wide before Buffy slammed her stake through its heart. The vampire exploded into a cloud of dust.

Iron Man picked up the bin and tossed it aside so he could get a better look at his niece. "Buffy... what the hell are you doing here?!" he demanded.

Buffy shrugged her shoulders dismissively. "My job," she replied.

Tony turned around quickly as he heard the creatures hiss, "Slayer!" One of the vampires near the back put his fingers to his mouth and gave out loud, long whistle. Ten more vampires came running out from a side alley.

Buffy stepped towards her uncle and stood back to back with him as the vampires surrounded them. "We don't have time to argue," she told Tony. "These guys are real vampires," she said quickly. "Soulless, blood sucking, bastards," she added.

"Oh, you mean they're lawyers," Tony quipped.

Buffy chuckled. "Only the ones who work at wolfram and Hart," she replied. "The only way to kill these things is a wooden stake through the heart, decapitation, fire, or sunlight," she said quickly before an overly brave vampire rushed at her. Buffy took advantage of his sloppy attack to kick him in the groin. When the vampire dropped to its knees in agony, she mercifully staked him through the heart. His dust floated on the breeze towards the other vampires.

Tony scrolled through weapons menus and selected his incendiary missiles. Unfortunately, he only had two of them. He targeted two areas where the vampires were squeezed close together. Twin panels popped open on his shoulders and the micro-missiles shot from their launchers. A split second later, five vampires were engulfed in flames. Their screeches were so loud, Jarvis had to dial down the audio pick ups.

Buffy looked at the screaming, staggering bonfires and frowned. It wasn't that she had a problem with seeing a bunch of vamps die, she just really disliked guns or anything like them. "I thought you said your company doesn't make weapons anymore," she said coldly.

Tony shook his head. "No, I said 'our' company isn't in the weapons business anymore," he clarified. "I don't sell weapons," he said indignantly. "All the weapons I make I keep for myself," he stated.

Buffy spun around and staked a vampire that was trying to take advantage of finding the Slayer deep in conversation. She barely paid any attention to the cloud of the dust that settled around her arm. "Fine, but if you do sell any weapons, I'm kicking your ass," she warned her uncle.

Tony looked down at Buffy and nodded in understanding. The vampires were pulling together and closing the circle around them. Tony slowly turned his helmet around, looking at everything. "Wood through the heart?" he asked, making sure he heard Buffy correctly on how to kill a vampire.

Buffy spun her stake around in her hand. "Yep, old reliable," she replied. Tony took four large steps past the two co-eds who were still huddled on the ground. He smashed the wood fence blocking the alley with his fist. When he drew back his fist, he was holding a jagged, three foot long piece of wood. The co-eds took the opportunity and ran out through the hole Iron Man had created.

A small panel on Iron Man's left forearm opened and a small, pivoting tube popped out. A red laser lanced out of the tube and caught the end of the fence fragment on fire. "If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing," he told Buffy.

"Yeah, that should work," Buffy told him. Tony kicked off the ground and shot into the pack of vampires, impaling three of them before coming to a stop.

The vampires, knowing they were between a Slayer and hard place, howled as one and attacked the Slayer and her new ally. Within moments, the air was filled with so much vampire dust, Buffy could hardly see. She fought by instinct, letting the Slayer within her take over. She kicked out with her left leg and shattered the knee of a vampire trying to flank her. As it screamed, she used its shoulders to vault over the group facing her. Buffy staked two vampires before they had a chance to turn around.

Soon the remaining vampires regrouped in front of Buffy and Iron Man after he had walked back to get a fresh piece of fence. They smiled at each other when the sound of a ram's horn being blown reverberated off the warehouses. The vampires scattered, happy to let something else deal with the Slayer and her armored friend.

Tony watched the vampires run off and then looked down at Buffy who just shrugged. They didn't have to wait long before the ground rumbled slightly as a large troll stomped into view. The troll was over 8 feet tall with long, brown horns jutting out from the side of its head. Tony pointed a metal finger at the monster. "What is that?" he inquired.

BUffy sighed and rolled her neck to get out the kinks. "That... is a troll," she replied.

"Really? I thought they stayed in their parents' basements and stalked people on message boards," he deadpanned. Buffy smiled despite the danger they were in. She always enjoyed a joke during battle. "Anything I should know about..." Tony started to ask before the troll smashed him the chest with its war-hammer. The blow drove Iron Man through several walls and into a pile of crates.

Buffy and the troll both looked through the holes to where Tony had landed. "Yeah, they're super strong," she replied.

A red gauntlet waved from the smashed crates. "Thanks," Tony said sarcastically before letting his hand fall back down.

The troll chuckled and turned his attention towards Buffy. "Glorificus will pay me much gold if I bring her the Slayer's head," it thought aloud. "Maybe even a hundred gold pieces," it told itself. Buffy rolled her eyes and equaled the weight on both of her feet, preparing to fight.

A deep voice behind the troll caused it to turn around suddenly. "Yoo-hoo," Iron Man called out before smacking the troll in the face with a 6 foot long metal I-beam. The blow was so strong, the I-beam bent slightly. The troll spun around and faced Buffy again, his eyes slightly crossed. Buffy rotated her hips and punched the troll in the jaw with all of her strength. This spun the troll around one more time to face Iron Man. Tony brought the I-beam down in an overhead blow that dropped the troll like a rag-doll. The troll didn't get up and started snoring loudly.

Tony dropped the metal I-beam and looked at his niece, his face plate retracting so he could look her eye to eye. "Would you mind telling me just what the hell you were thinking running into a mess like this?!" he demanded.

Buffy squared her shoulders and scowled at him. "Me?! What the hell were you doing?" she countered. "At least I knew what I was dealing with," she scolded her uncle. "Besides that, what gives you the right to tell me what I can and can't do anyway?" she yelled.

Tony closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. He held out his hands palm forward to show he didn't want to fight. "Buffy, I lost way too many years in a feud with your mom," he stated slowly. "Those are years I would give anything to get back and share with her," he told her. "You and Dawn are the only family I have now," he said softly. "I don't want to lose you right after I found you," he whispered.

Buffy stepped forward and punched Iron Man on the dent in his chest armor. She was surprised the hammer had only dented it and not smashed into Tony's lungs. The blow Buffy landed knocked Tony back a foot, causing him to stagger. "Don't you think I feel the same way?" she asked rhetorically. "I never even knew I had an uncle and the same day I meet him, he races off to fight a bunch vampires unprepared," she reminded him.

The troll groaned and started to lift itself up on its arms. "Excuse me for a moment," Buffy said as she picked up the metal I-beam. She slammed the I-beam down onto the troll's head again, causing another bend in the metal and knocking out the troll once more. She dropped the I-beam and stared at Tony, daring him to say something.

Tony looked down at the I-beam and then back at Buffy. He knew it weighed almost half-a-ton. "I guess there's stuff we need to talk about," he said lamely.

Buffy smiled at him. "We can talk about it over dinner tomorrow," she offered. "How about you get us at seven instead of eight," she suggested. Before Tony could say yes, she ran off using her full Slayer speed.

"It would appear as though your niece is a meta-human," Jarvis said in Tony's ear.

Tony slid his face plate down while shaking his head. He looked up and used his repulsor boots to rocket into the sky. "You don't say," Tony replied sarcastically. The thought that a family member might be a mutant made him start to question his beliefs on the Mutant Registration Act that was being tossed around on capitol hill. He shoved those thoughts aside as he decided to focus on more pressing matters. "Jarvis, open a line to Pepper," he ordered.

A second later, a picture from Pepper's webcam sprang up in the lower left hand corner of his HUD. She was wearing a silk kimono tied loosely around her. The front was open slightly showing a generous amount of cleavage. Pepper smiled as Tony just stared for a moment. "Do you need something, or did you just want to see what I was wearing?" she teased her boyfriend.

Tony blinked his eyes a few times as he regained some semblance of coherent thought. Beautiful women, and this one in particular, had always been his greatest weakness. "Um... yeah, I mean yes, I called for a reason," he stammered. "I need you to purchase someplace either in or around Sunnydale for us," he told her. "Usual size with enough room for one of my armor labs," he stated. Tony looked down at the slumbering troll. "Better make sure there's plenty of room for a lab for Banner as well," he added. Pepper jotted some notes on her computer, starting the search. "Oh, one other thing," Tony said while making a point of staring at Pepper's body. "Make sure my schedule is clear for tonight. There's only one person I want to have a meeting with," he told her.

Pepper rolled her eyes, but smiled just the same. With one hand, she untied the silk belt holding her kimono closed. With the other, she shut off the webcam right before her kimono fell open. "Jarvis, plot the optimal flight path to the hotel, maximum speed," Tony ordered.


	3. Chapter 3

Pepper Potts sighed contentedly and ran her hand across the king sized bed she shared with Tony in the Sunnydale Hilton Presidential Suite. When her hand encountered nothing but bed and sheets, she sighed again, this time in frustration. She drew back her hand and lifted her sleep mask from her eyes. The sleep mask had been essential since sharing a bed with a guy who had an ARC reactor in his chest was like sharing a bed with the world's biggest night light. Propping herself on her elbows, she looked around the suite. "Jarvis, where's Tony?" she asked.

"Tony is at the new Stark Industries Sunnydale Office," the AI replied. Pepper frowned and scrunched her eyebrows in thought. She had planned on looking for a place to buy after she and Tony had woken up. Pepper was taken by surprise that one had already been found. "After hearing Tony's request to you last night, I started a search through the local real estate records looking for a property that would fit his specifications," Jarvis informed her.

Pepper got up from the bed and tugged her kimono off the chandelier where Tony has tossed it. After she had the belt tied, she ran her hands through her bright, red hair. "I take it Tony woke up earlier than usual and approved the purchase," she surmised.

"No, Pepper," Jarvis replied. "As it turns out, Stark Industries already owned a structure that fit the requirements," it told her.

Pepper waved her hand in front of her as if to swat away cobwebs. "What? No... wait, you know the rules, Jarvis. No complicated thoughts until after I've had my morning coffee," she chided the AI. A ding from the automated coffee maker drew her attention to the kitchenette. She poured herself a large cup, drank half of it, and took in a deep breath. "OK, now you can explain how we already owned a building here in Sunnydale," she stated.

"Prior to attending the funeral of Tony's sister, Tony purchased the Sunnydale Savings and Loan to take care of the mortgage on Joyce's house," Jarvis reminded Pepper. "The bank holds the deeds for several foreclosed structures in and around Sunnydale," it pointed out. "I took the liberty of transferring the lab equipment from the Malibu house while you and Tony were engaged in 'noisome simian coitus'," Jarvis said. "Tony awoke rather refreshed and went to the castle to oversee the activation of his lab," it stated.

Pepper shook her head and put the coffee cup down. "I'm going to kill Tony for installing that humour algorithm last month," she muttered under her breath. "Oh Jarvis, just so you know, the proper phrase is 'loud monkey sex'," she corrected the computer. She paused and then a delicate eyebrow rose in shock. "Did you say 'castle'?" she inquired.

******Avengers in Sunnydale******

Pepper walked down the stone stairs into what she assumed must have originally been the castle dungeon. Prior to that, she had double checked that the servant's house was being outfitted with the same equipment Tony had supplied for Dr. Banner at the Avengers Tower in New York. She grinned as she thought that her practicality was finally starting to rub off on her boyfriend. Having Dr. Banner's lab a couple hundred yards from the main building gave the castle, and more importantly the armor labs, a better chance of survival if the "other guy" decided to make an appearance.

Pepper opened the heavy oak doors and walked into the dungeon. What had once been a place of medieval torture was now a seemingly chaotic mix of industrial robots, computers, and various types of lab equipment. Tony was standing in the center of the room, surrounded by a ring of holographic emitters. Several "screens" floated in the air around him and his eyes flicked from one to the other as he processed the information they were displaying. One of the screens was replaying footage from last night's battle with the vampires. The second screen looked like it was a enlarged page from some old book. A third screen showed a holographic image of some kind of fang being sliced into thin wafers with a laser.

Pepper cleared her throat and Tony only waved in her direction, never turning from the screens. "Glad you're here," Tony said. "I need a fresh set of eyes," he admitted.

Pepper stepped into the glowing circle to stand next to her boyfriend. "OK, what am looking at?" she inquired.

Tony pointed at the screen that was replaying the battle. "Believe it not, but Buffy and I fought a pack of vampires last night," he explained. He felt Pepper tense as she was about to say something, but he raised a hand to silence her. "No, really," he insisted. Tony pointed at the battle and made a hand gesture that slowed the playback. "Watch," he instructed.

Pepper watched as Tony's niece slammed a pointed piece of wood into a man dressed in a 70's leisure suit. The man exploded into dust after the wood penetrated his chest. Pepper stepped closer to the screen as it switched to a view of Iron Man impaling three men with a flaming chunk of wood. Tony made another gesture with his hand and the image froze, showing a closeup of one of the men's faces. He had yellow eyes, strange brow ridges that ran across his forehead, and long, sharp fangs protruding from his mouth.

Turning to look at the screen that displayed a page from a book, Pepper wasn't surprised to see it was a section from Bram Stoker's Dracula. She continued on to the third screen and saw that an information window at the bottom confirmed the DNA was human. Next to that window was a range of frequencies.

Tony pointed towards the image of the tooth. "One of them got a fang stuck in my neck armor," he stated. "I ran a DNA scan on it and it and it came back as normal human bone," he said. Tony waved both hands and the holograms faded away. He led Pepper over to a window that had different glass from the rest of the dungeon windows. A table with several glass slides stood next to the wall out of the direct sunlight that was filtering through the window.

"Buffy said that the vampires could be killed by sunlight, so I decided to do some experiments," Tony started to explain. He held up one of the glass slides and jerked his head towards one of the industrial robots. "I had one of the twins slice up the fang into small wafers," he told her. One of the 7 foot tall, yellow arms waved at Pepper cheerfully and then went back to work. Without warning, Tony thrust the slide in his hand into the sunlight. The slide shattered as the bone wafer burst into flames.

Pepper stared at the glass shards on the floor. "OK, that's unusual behavior for bone," she said.

"It gets weirder," Tony stated as he picked up a remote control. He pointed it at the window and it darkened just slightly. Tony picked up another slide and held in the sunlight. Pepper watched as nothing happened. "I found the range of UV frequencies that cause the reaction," he said.

Pepper shrugged her shoulders. "It's not that weird. It just shows that the … vampires are vulnerable to UV light," she told him. She couldn't believe she had actually used the word "vampire".

Tony shook his head in frustration. "That's just it. They're not," he said, contradicting the evidence he had shown her. Tony pulled her over to a special projector that was able to isolate specific frequencies of light. He handed her a pair of dark glasses and turned on the machine. Bright UV light blasted out of the end of the device. "This projector is putting out a thousand times more UV energy than what we would find in sunlight," he told her. Tony held another glass slide in front of the beam, and again, nothing happened. He flicked the power switch and the projector shut off.

Pepper took off her dark glasses and tapped her chin thoughtfully. "So the effects are limited to just direct sunlight," she said, wanting to make sure she had followed him.

Tony nodded his head. "It doesn't make any sense. Physical laws are just that, laws," he complained.

Pepper glanced at the glass slides and thought for a moment. She thought back to the screen that had shown a page from Dracula. She snapped her fingers when she made a connection. "It's a two part equation, Tony," she told him. Tony leaned against the work table and motioned for her to continue. "If we go with the information in the book, then the things used to kill or harm a vampire take two components," she stated. "Wooden stake, Holy water, and crosses," she told him.

Tony looked confused, something that didn't happen to him very often. "How do crosses have two components?" he asked for clarification.

"The shape plus the faith put behind them," Pepper replied.

"Well, there goes my idea for putting crosses all over the suit," Tony joked. They both knew he was something of an agnostic.

Pepper went on. "Each of the pair have something that directly opposes the concept of vampires being the evil undead," she said. "Holy water and the faith behind crosses counteract the evil side of vampires. Wood comes from nature and life, the opposite of death," she postulated.

Tony nodded his head. "And the source of all life on the planet is the sun," he summarized. He paused and became still for a moment.

Pepper saw the faraway look in his eyes that meant he was deep in creative thought. She leaned forward, kissed his cheek, and then walked back to the stairs. "Don't forget about dinner with your nieces tonight," she reminded him.

Tony absentmindedly waved a hand in her direction. "Sure … dinner … tonight," he said absently. Pepper shook her head in amusement and made a note to pick up the girls herself. As she closed the door to the lab, she saw Tony step back into the holo-ring and say, "Jarvis, pull up the plans for Project Gaslight."

******Avengers in Sunnydale******

Dawn opened the curtains in the livingroom slightly when she heard a car pull up. Her eyes nearly bugged out when she saw the car in question was a stretch limo. She watched as a tall, red headed woman stepped out in a classy, red business suit. "Buffy, I think our ride is here," Dawn called out.

Pepper had barely knocked when the door opened for her. She had been brushing up on her vampire lore on the internet and wasn't offended when no one invited her in. To prove her human nature, Pepper walked right in past the middle aged man wearing glasses who had opened the door.

The man shut the door behind her and then offered his hand. "Rupert Giles," he said, introducing himself.

Pepper returned the handshake with a firm grip. "Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries," she said. She saw a hint of disappointment when she added, "And Tony's girlfriend." She looked into the living room and saw it was filled with young people - Buffy and Dawn (whom she recognized from the funeral), a short girl with hair as red as Pepper's, a taller girl with brown hair holding the redhead's hand, a blonde woman, and a young man with dark hair who was drooling just a bit. The blonde woman glared at the young man and hit his chin to close his mouth.

Buffy stepped forward and looked suspiciously out the window. "Why didn't Tony come pick us up himself?" she asked.

Pepper thought for a moment and decided the truth was the best option. "Your uncle is … well, let's just say his picture can be found in several psychology textbooks next to the sections on severe ADHD," she chuckled. "More often than not, he gets hyper focused on something and I almost have to hit him over the head to get him to take a break to eat," she confided.

All of the Scoobies discreetly glanced at Dawn and tried to hide their grins. Dawn stomped her foot in frustration and pointed at Buffy. "She's just as bad as I am," she complained, which set the room off into a small fit of laughter. The laughter died off and then came back when Buffy first glared at the Scoobies and then stuck her tongue out at Dawn.

Buffy waved her arm towards the Scoobies and Giles. "Do you think Tony would mind if I invited a few friends to join us?" she asked Pepper.

Pepper frowned for a moment. She knew Tony wanted to talk about Buffy's abilities and the things that went bump in the night around Sunnydale. Pepper didn't know what, if anything, Buffy had told her friends.

Buffy read Pepper's expression correctly. "We're going to talk about me being the Slayer and everything that entails," she assured Pepper. "Giles is coming because he can explain the whole vampire slayage thing better than anyone," she said. Buffy gestured towards Willow and Tara. "Will and Tara are witches and they can explain magic," she stated. Buffy moved her hand towards Xander and Anya. "Anya can explain about demons," she added. Buffy frowned and turned looking right at Xander.

Without having Buffy having to ask, Xander put in, "And I'm going along for the free food."

Pepper smiled, noticing Buffy introduced her friends with the same nonchalant air that Tony had when he had introduced her to the other Avengers. "The more the merrier," she said.

Giles opened the door again and Pepper led the way to the limo. As the long black sedan pulled away from the Summers house, no one noticed they were being watched. A goblin looking demon in a brown robe started up his motor scooter and followed the limo a safe distance away. The demon was so intent on his orders to follow Buffy and find out what it could about the key, it didn't notice there was a person following it. That person was a blonde vampire running from shadow to shadow, holding a thick wool blanket over his head, and swearing the whole time.

As the limo pulled up to the newly named Stark Castle (as Jarvis had informed Pepper via her bluetooth headset on the ride back) the Scoobie all started to grin when they realized where they were headed.. "I see you bought Dracula's castle," Buffy said conversationally.

Pepper looked out the windows at the tan stone castle with the dark slate roof. "It does look like something out of a storybook, doesn't it?" she replied.

Buffy tapped Pepper on the shoulder and shook her head when the older woman met her eyes. "I'm being serious," Buffy told her. "Dracula brought the castle over from Latveria a few months ago when he came to Sunnydale," she explained.

Pepper blinked a few times at that statement. "Dracula … as in the one made famous in the books and movies?" she inquired.

Dawn nodded. "Yeah, he decided he wanted to kill Buffy. Since she wasn't going to Latveria, he came here," she said. "Buffy kicked his butt and he went back home with his tail between his legs," she told Pepper.

Xander turned from the window and had a weird look on his face. "How did you end up owning Master's … I mean Dracula's castle?" he asked.

Pepper caught Xander's slip and made a note to ask Buffy about it later. "The castle was foreclosed on due to non-payment of taxes," she replied. "Stark Industries bought the bank that owned it," she told him.

Xander shook his head and went back to looking out the window. "I told him not to ignore those tax notices," he muttered under his breath.

After the limo pulled up in the long circle drive, the group got out and went into the castle. Pepper led them to the main dining room where a table had been set out with just the right number of chairs. Several trays full of food were already set up. Pepper gestured to the table and the others sat themselves. "I'll go get Tony," she offered.

"Thanks, but I'm already here," Tony announced as he walked in from a side door. He was carrying a dark box about two feet long. Pepper sat down, smiled at Tony, and then wrinkled her nose at the unpleasant odors coming from the table and the box Tony was carrying.

"Um … who are the extra folks?" Tony asked, seemingly registering for the first time that there were others in the room other than Pepper and his nieces.

Willow waved a cheery greeting. "Hi, I'm Willow," she said. She raised her lover's hand and introduced her, knowing Tara was overly shy. "This is my girlfriend, Tara," she said and watched Tony's reaction. He didn't flinch at all at her declaration of lesbian love. Willow smiled at him, and gave Buffy a covert thumbs up sign.

Giles stood from the table. "My name is Rupert Giles. The young man oggling your girlfriend is Xander," he said.

"I am not oggling!" Xander protested.

Giles smirked. "Yes, quite. My mistake," he said in a way that let everybody know that's not what he truly thought. "The woman next to him is Anya," he concluded the introductions. "Now that we all know each other's names, could you tell me why you have brought to the dinner table a box that smells like … ?" he inquired, not quite finding a polite word for what he was smelling.

Dawn rolled her eyes. "You know, I'm almost 15," she complained. "I have heard that word before," she reminded them.

"Poop?" Willow suggested.

"Poop, yes, thank you," Giles replied.

"That's because that's what it is," Tony replied, answering Giles earlier question and earning him a grimace from everybody at the table. "That and a few strains of genetically modified bacteria," he added.

Pepper perked up when she realized what Tony had done. "Project Gaslight?" she asked. Tony nodded proudly.

"I'm sorry, what is Project Gaslight?" Giles inquired.

Pepper pointed towards the box in Tony's arms. "One of the challenges Stark Industries has focused on recently has been renewable energy sources, especially for third world countries," she said.

Tony took over the explanation. "We developed a series of bioluminescent bacteria that eat … poop," he said, winking at Dawn. "Each little critter is only able to produce a certain frequency of light," he stated. "By slightly altering their genes, we were able to created several strains that when combined produced full spectrum light," he explained.

"Is it safe?" Giles asked, not wanting to risk everyone at the table getting infected with genetically modified bacteria.

Tony made a dismissive gesture with his free hand. "The bacteria is perfectly harmless to humans," he assured Giles. Tony started chuckling. "All though in the initial trials, we did get an annoying lab assistant who accidentally ingested a large dose of the little guys," he said. "Oddly enough, it was only the green strain that got into his coffee," Tony stated. "Poor guy thought he had been dosed with gamma radiation since his poop glowed bright green until we gave him some antibiotics," he reminisced with a smirk.

Giles took off his glasses and cleaned them before he sat down, not knowing what to say to that. Tony put the box down on a side table out of nose range and slid open a hatch letting purplish light out. "I figured out the combination of strains to produce the right frequencies of UV light," he said proudly. He held up one of the glass slides. "Vampire bone wafer," he said before putting the slide in front the opening. After a few seconds, the glass shattered as the bone eventually ignited.

Despite himself, Giles stood back up and made his way over the box. "How did you accomplish that?" he asked. "The Watcher's Council learned years ago that UV light alone has no effect on vampires," he said.

Tony pointed to the stinky box. "Light made from a living source instead of a bulb," he explained.

Willow and Giles both exclaimed, "Of course!" at the same time.

Buffy looked at the box. "You're not mounting a box of poop on your suit, are you?" she asked, knowing his coolness factor would drop significantly if word got out.

"Of course not," Tony replied. "This was just a proof of concept. The actual version will have cells of these stashed throughout the suit linked by fiber optic cables fed to a lens," he told her.

"What will the bacteria being feeding off of?" Willow asked.

Tony shrugged and slid the slot close on the box. "The suit has a waste recycling system in case I have a long mission," he stated.

Buffy realized what he was saying and held up her hands to stop him. "Too much information there, Uncle Tony," she said.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: For the purpose of this story, Joyce's death has occurred much sooner than it did in season 5 of BtVS. The Council has yet to make it's visit to Sunnydale to question the Scoobies and try to exert their control over Buffy.

********Avengers in Sunnydale********

_Previously on Avengers in Sunnydale:_

_Buffy looked at the box. "You're not mounting a box of poop on your suit, are you?" she asked, knowing his coolness factor would drop significantly if word got out._

"_Of course not," Tony replied. "This was just a proof of concept. The actual version will have cells of these stashed throughout the suit linked by fiber optic cables fed to a lens," he told her._

"_What will the bacteria being feeding off of?" Willow asked._

_Tony shrugged and slid the slot close on the box. "The suit has a waste recycling system in case I have a long mission," he stated._

_Buffy realized what he was saying and held up her hands to stop him. "Too much information there, Uncle Tony," she said._

********Avengers in Sunnydale********

**Chapter 4**

Tony chuckled at Buffy's playful banter. It felt good to have family again. Before their big fight, Tony had bantered with Joyce the same way. Still chuckling, Tony walked down the hallway connecting the dining room to the front foyer and put the gaslight gun down on a bookcase nestled against the wall. He then ducked into the hall restroom to wash his hands.

With clean hands, Tony returned to the dining room to join his guests. Everyone was seated and were waiting patiently on their host. "Don't wait for me, dig in," he ordered, flashing his trademarked smile. As he sat down, his attention was focused on the smile Pepper was giving him and not on the pained faces everyone but Anya were sporting. Still not noticing the Scoobies, Tony spooned some of his dinner into his mouth. As soon as the food touched his tongue, Tony's attention was yanked away from Pepper. He politely grabbed his napkin and spit his food out into it. "Um, does anyone else's food taste like..." he started to ask and glanced over at Dawn, "like what powers the gaslight gun?"

Relief seemed to wash over the table. Giles quickly swallowed what was in his mouth and grabbed his water, draining the whole glass. Xander let his mouthful of food spill out onto his plate and scrubbed his tongue with his napkin. The rest of the Scoobies except for Anya had reactions somewhere between Xander and Giles. For her part, Anya was digging in with gusto, a broad smile on her face. She shoveled more food into her mouth and then noticed everyone staring at her with a mixture of awe and revulsion. "What? It's really good," she stated and went back to eating.

Buffy saw the confused and somewhat horrified look on Tony's face. "She's an ex-demon," she explained.

Tony nodded once and then looked up at the ceiling. "Jarvis, would you mind telling me what's up with food?" he requested.

A disembodied voice came from concealed speakers. "My apologies, Tony," Jarvis replied. "I processed all of the books I could find online in regards to vampires. Several of them mentioned that garlic was a natural way to repel the undead," the artificial intelligence explained. "Since I had no way of knowing whether or not any of the people your niece had invited along were alive or dead, I added the equivalent of two cloves of garlic to each plate," he admitted.

"Warn a guy next time," Tony muttered angrily. He looked over at Buffy and Giles. "So, does garlic actually work against vampires?" he inquired.

There was a silent second before everyone but Tony and Pepper started bursting out laughing. Giles was the first one to regain his composure. "I'm... I'm sorry, Tony, but that's one of the myths that never seems to lose it's comedic value," he chuckled while wiping away a tear from his eye. "During the middle ages, garlic was considered the remedy for just about everything, alas repelling vampires is not one of its properties," he explained.

Pepper frowned at Giles explanation. "Most myths are based in some sort of truth," she stated. "Why would so many people be under the impression that garlic kept vampires away?" she asked.

Buffy made a show of pushing her plate away from her. "Have you ever had to be near someone who has eaten _waaaay_ to much garlic?" she asked and cast a quick glance at Anya who had cleared her plate and had started in on Xander's.

Pepper followed Buffy's glance and felt sorry for the young man named Xander. She had noticed the definite "couple vibe" coming him and Anya. "To be truthful, no I haven't," she replied. "I usually find a way to get upwind from them as soon as I can," she admitted. Her eyes widened as she made the connection.

Buffy nodded towards Pepper. "Yep, and vampires have a sense of smell several times more powerful than a human's," she said. "Unless a vamp is really hungry, they will usually go find a better smelling meal," she stated.

Tony pushed his plate away as well. "And what happens if the vampire is really hungry," he inquired.

Buffy turned towards her uncle with a shrug. "I think they just hold their nose while they feed," she stated.

Giles coughed politely to draw Tony's attention. "I promise we will answer what questions we can, but I for one have a question that is begging to be answered," he stated. Tony gave him a welcoming hand gesture suggesting Giles continue. "What sort of spirit is 'Jarvis' and are you sure you can trust a bound entity to prepare your food?" he inquired. "It's been my experience that binding a spirit or elemental to this plane can result in dire consequences for the spell caster," he added.

Tony opened his mouth to speak and then shut it when he couldn't find the right words to answer. Like his father and grandfather before him, Tony was a man who dedicated his life to the development and application of cutting edge science. He was finding it difficult to make the mental shift to thinking of things in mysticals terms.

Pepper tried to hide the grin she got at her boyfriends sudden lack of words. Deciding to throw him a lifeline, she answered for Tony. Shifting in her chair to look at Giles she said, "Jarvis is an artificial intelligence Tony created to be his personal assistant. The AI takes care of running the home Tony is in, filtering information from Stark Industries, and working as the operating system for the Iron Man suits."

Willow's eyes grew wide as she stared at Tony and Pepper. "Oh... my... goddess! You actually got the AI fully operational?" she shrieked excitedly. Willow blushed as she realized everyone was staring at her now. "I read an article about it in Advanced Cyber Technologies Monthly last year," she explained.

"I remember that article," Tony said. "That was probably the most awkward centerfold I have ever posed for," he chuckled.

Those who were familiar with scientific journals laughed with Tony while those who weren't had varied reactions. For her part, Buffy rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the visual, Uncle Tony," she moaned sarcastically.

Anya looked up from Xander's now empty plate. "Yeah, thanks Tony," she agreed. "I'll be thinking of you nude while I have sex with Xander tonight," she told him in her typical blunt fashion.

This time both Tony and Pepper were at a loss for words. They were given an extra moment to mentally reboot by Willow. "I've always wanted to ask, what does JARVIS stand for?" the red headed witch asked.

"I stand for truth, justice, and keeping Tony afloat in the chaotic maelstrom that is his life," Jarvis replied from the hidden speakers.

Pepper slapped Tony's arm while he laughed silently behind his napkin. "Laugh it up, Tony. Either you adjust his humor algorithm or I will," she threatened. "This morning he talked about us having noisome simian coitus," she told him with a frown. This only caused Tony to laugh out loud.

Willow saw Xander's confused expression. "Loud monkey sex," she whispered.

"Oh... thanks," Xander replied.

After regaining control of himself, Tony put down his napkin. "Jarvis isn't an acronym," he told Willow. "Jarvis was the name of the butler who helped raise Joyce and I when we were kids," he explained. The smell of the food hit him again. "Jarvis, send in the twins to clear off the table and then order the usual Friday night dinner," he ordered.

Dawn looked down at her plate of foul smelling food and then up at Tony. "What do you normally eat on Fridays?" she asked, not really sure she wanted to know.

Tony chuckled at again. "The uh... people I hang out with when I'm in New York always get together on Friday nights and we have pizza delivered," he replied. He wanted to learn more about his neices and the world they lived in before he explained his new friends. Tony smiled as he watched his youngest niece's shoulder relax. He knew no healthy teen could turn down pizza.

Within a minute, two yellow industrial robots rolled into the dining room. One was holding a trash bag as far from it's little boxy body as it could. It followed it's twin which rolled up to the table and started picking up plates and dropping them gingerly in the trash sack. Giles blinked a few times when he looked closer at the robots. The one picking up plates had what looked like a gas mask duck taped over what he assumed to be some sort of sensors. He took off his glasses and cleaned them with a cloth to let his brain have time to process.

Once the twins had cleared off the table and rolled back through spraying air freshener, Tony decided to broach the questions he was dying to ask. "While we're waiting on the pizza guy, let's go ahead and talk about what's going on here in your quaint little hamlet," he suggested.

Dawn took the initiative and spoke first. "Tony, a lot of what we are going to tell you is going to seem pretty unbelievable so try to keep an open mind," she requested. She was trying to decide if she should let her uncle in on the secret that until quite recently she had been a floating ball of energy instead of a human teenage girl. Before Pepper had picked them up, she had discussed it with Buffy who told her it was her decision whether or not to tell Tony. Dawn was hoping Tony's reactions to the others would help her make up her mind.

Tony smiled at Dawn before answering. Sharing a building with the other Avengers had stretched his weirdness envelope far beyond what a normal person would tolerate. Sharing living space with a Norse god, a 70 some odd year old super soldier, a guy who turned into a raging, indestructible beast when angry, and a pair of super spies can really broaden a person's horizons. "Don't worry, Dawn," Tony replied. "I've been told I'm a pretty opened minded guy," he assured her.

Pepper cocked her head to the side with a mischievous grin on her lips. "In fact, I think those are the exact words the Women's Brazilian National Soccer team used to describe you," she teased Tony.

For an instant, Tony had a dreamy smile on his face as he remembered that particular weekend. He shook himself out of it and muttered under his breath, "I'm in a committed relationship. I'm in a committed relationship. I'm in a committed relationship." He noticed Pepper staring at him. "You're never going to let than one go, are you?" he asked Pepper. Pepper shook her head no. "Come on, you and I weren't even dating back then," he pleaded.

Pepper's eyes narrowed dangerously. "At least half of the team still sends you their panties every year at Christmas," she reminded him.

It was Xander's turn to have dreamy smile. "Now I know what _I'll_ be thinking about when I have sex Anya," he muttered. Xander sensed everyone was looking at him. "I said that out loud, didn't I?" he inquired sheepishly. Everyone nodded silently.

"I don't even like soccer," Anya chided Xander.

Tony verbally stepped in to avoid a fight. "Let's start with magic," he suggested. Pepper had texted him on the way to the castle and briefed him on what the people were going to discuss.

Since Tara had been practicing magic the longest, she was the one to speak first. "Magic is what we call the energy that is given off by all living things and permeates all matter," she said.

"I thought that was the force," Xander joked. "Owe!" he yelled as both Willow and Anya slapped him across the back of his head.

Tara gave Xander one of her few angry glares and went on. "As I was saying, this energy field is something that some people have the ability to tap into. By the use of rituals and focusing techniques, the magically sensitive can use that energy to affect things around them," she explained.

To demonstrate, Willow pointed her finger at vase full of flowers in the center of the table. She concentrated and got the vase to rise off of the table a few inches. She lowered the vase back to the table a muttered a spell in an ancient language. The roses in the vase transformed into tiger lilies. Willow reached across the table, plucked a lily out the vase, and then tucked the flower into her lover's hair above her ear.

Tara smiled shyly as she gently touched the flower in her hair. "Ta-da, magic," Willow said.

Tony leaned over to Pepper and hid his mouth behind his hand. "Bruce is going to have a nerdgasm when we tell him there's another type of energy he hasn't had a chance to study yet," he joked. Pepper playfully swatted Tony on the arm.

Buffy looked at her Uncle's lack of confusion. "So Mr. Scientist, you ok with magic?" she challenged.

Tony pointed towards the vase full of transfigured flowers. "Matter is simply cohesive energy," he said. "It's not that hard to accept that over millions of years some humans have evolved a part of their mind that allows them to connect with this energy field and allow them to manipulate it," he stated with a shrug. Giles smiled at the way Tony had phrased things. It was very similar to how he had phrased his senior thesis at the Watcher's Academy.

Tony pointed towards Anya. "Since they said you were an ex-demon, I guess you're the resident expert on demons," he stated. "What are they, where do they come from, and am I going to need to upgrade my armor to defend myself and my friends?" he asked.

Anya took a moment to think about his multi-part question and decided to tackle the first part and second parts together. "Demons are what humans call extra-dimensional entities that come from either tangent or lower dimensions," she replied. "Entities from the higher dimensions are usually referred to as angels or if they're powerful enough, gods. I usually just call them stuck up pricks," she added.

Tony nodded his head in understanding. Buffy again saw the lack of confusion on his face. "You followed that?" she asked in disbelief.

Tony smirked at Buffy. "I'm a fast learner," he replied. She had no way of knowing one of his good friends was one of those so called gods Anya had spoken of. Tony and Thor had discussed something similar to this after the battle of New York, but the 6'04" walking L'Oreal commercial had referred to individual species by name rather than lump them together as demons. He looked back to Anya. "How big of a threat do the demons you encounter pose?" he inquired.

For a brief moment, Anya looked embarrassed as she remembered all of the misery she had inflicted as a vengeance demon. "Demons range from everyday people looking to just have a peaceful spot to raise their spawn to violent, evil, unstoppable creatures like Glory," she replied.

Pepper saw the collective flinch around the table at the mention of that name. "Who's Glory?" she asked.

Buffy raised her hand to stall any further questions along that line for a moment. "We'll talk about the blonde bitch later," she told Pepper. Buffy looked over at Giles. "We're up," she said.

Giles folded his hands in front of his chest and eased into lecture mode. "Tony, to answer your questions about your niece I should first explain that some demons are only able to exist in this dimension by inhabiting a host. Vampires are one such type," Giles said. "Once a human is turned, their soul is replaced by a demon which gives them their abilities and altered dietary needs," he stated.

"You mean the whole drinking blood thing?" Tony asked for clarification.

"Unfortunately, yes," Giles replied. "The demon half is also what causes the vampires to be nearly invulnerable except for sunlight, wooden stakes to the heart, holy water, fire, and decapitation," he explained.

"Yeah, Buffy gave me a similar rundown when we fought the bastards down in the industrial district," Tony told Giles. "What I would like to know is how my niece got involved with fighting vampires and how someone who can't weigh more than 110 pounds can lift half a ton like it was just your average baseball bat," Tony said.

Giles turned in his chair to face Tony better. "Into every generation a slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight thevampires,demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer," Giles recited. "Before written history, many demons roamed the Earth, subjugating the human population," he said. "A group of sorcerers were able to harness a dark power and instill it in one girl," Giles stated. "That girl was given enhanced speed, strength, and senses in order to fight the demons. The sorcerers designed the binding so that when the girl died, the powers were passed onto another girl so that the fight could continue," he said. "The sorcerers had their sons watch over and direct the newest girl in the line and those sorcerers had their sons watch over the next, etc, etc," he explained. "The chosen girls were able to drive back the demons to the point were the only ones left were the vampires. Ever since then, the vampires have been at war with their greatest threat, the girl they named the Slayer," he said. "Over time, the sorcerers who watched over the girls became known as the Watchers Council with every Slayer being assigned a personal Watcher to help guide them in their duties," he told Tony. "I was assigned to Buffy," he said, a bit of pride in his "daughter" evident in his voice.

"Do the girls have a choice in whether or not they become this so called Slayer?" Pepper asked pointedly.

Buffy shook her head sadly. "Nope, the bouncing ball lands on whatever girl the Powers That Be feel like screwing with at the time," she complained.

Tony frowned and clenched his jaw as he picked up on a word that had been used several times. "You keep saying girl instead of woman. I would like you to explain that," he said coldly.

Giles looked down at the table, unable to meet Tony's eyes out of shame. "The girls are usually chosen in their early teens and most don't live to see their 18th birthday," he said softly.

The scrape of a chair against the stone floor startled everyone as Tony's chair flew backward as he stood suddenly, his hand darting under the table. Before Giles could react, he found Tony's right hand wrapped around his throat. Tony's left hand was encased in a red gauntlet raised above his head. The palm of the gauntlet was glowing a bluish white. A high pitched whine could be heard from the gauntlet as Tony overpowered the repulsor emitter. "No one screws with my family," Tony hissed.

Tony felt his left arm being pulled back with surprising force causing him to spin around and face Buffy. "Trust me when I tell you no one hates the Watchers more than me, but I won't let you hurt Giles," she told him firmly. "The Watchers Council fired him after he refused to toe the company line and admitted to them that he cared for me as if I was his daughter," she explained.

The high pitched whine wound down as Tony deactivated the repulsor. He nodded to Buffy who let go of his hand. Tony turned to face Giles again. "Sorry for almost blasting your face off, Giles," he apologized.

Giles rolled his neck as he massaged his throat. "I would have acted the same way concerning both of the Summers girls," he conceded. "I think you and I will get along quite well, Tony," Giles added with a half-grin.

As Tony took off the gauntlet, he looked at it longingly for a moment before putting it down in the table. "These Watchers and I are going to have either a very long or very, very short talk whenever I find them," he promised.

Giles grin became predatory. "Does next week work for you?" he asked Tony politely. Before Tony could answer, Giles explained. "The head of the Watchers Council will be here on Tuesday with a team to determine if Buffy is worth receiving their help in regards to a rather troublesome demon named Glory," he said. Tony matched Giles' predatory smile with one of his own and nodded once.

Buffy looked first Giles and then Tony in the eyes. "No one lays a hand on Travers until after I get the first punch in, got it?!" she demanded. Both her uncle and surrogate father agreed reluctantly.

As Tony and Buffy returned to their seats, Pepper pressed on for more information. "This is the second time someone has mentioned Glory," she pointed out. "Who or what is she?" she asked.

Giles took off his glasses to clean them again. "Glory is an extremely powerful demon that has arrived in Sunnydale recently," he replied. "Buffy has fought her on a few occasions and each time Glory has merely toyed with her," he said. "I fear that in a real one on one battle, Buffy doesn't stand a chance," he admitted sadly. "We are hoping the Council can offer us some insight into how to defeat her," he said.

The loud gong attached to the front door knocker rang loudly interrupting the discussion. As soon as the echoes died down, Jarvis spoke. "Heat sensors and video feeds indicate a living, human male wearing a pizza delivery uniform at the front door, Tony" he announced.

Tony stood up and made his way down the hall to the front door. He paid the delivery boy with a hundred dollar bill he had crammed in his slacks pocket and told the young man to keep the change. As Tony walked back to the dining room, he yelled out, "Who want's meat lovers?"

While they were eating, Tony's mind was racing along several different tracks. One part of his mind was marveling at how his petite nieces were devouring a whole pizza each. Another part was processing everything Buffy and her friends had told him. The final part of his mind was going over ideas of how Pepper and him could christen the master bedroom later that evening. When he was done eating, Tony had come to several conclusions: one - he needed to make sure Jarvis increased the food orders for the castle, two - he and Pepper were going to try out page 48 in his Kama Sutra book, and three - he needed to place a call to New York.

Tony stood up and walked to a large painting hanging on the wall of the dining room. "Jarvis, put me through to the Tower," he ordered. Willow gasped as the painting flashed once and then showed a large living room / den set up. The video resolution on the screen had been so good, no one had noticed it wasn't a real painting.

On the screen, Buffy saw several people huddle close together to get them in all in the frame. She saw a tall blonde guy with long, gorgeous blond hair that she was slightly jealous of, two guys with military style haircuts, a woman with dark red hair, and a disheveled guy who looked like he had been having a really rough week. The disheveled guy spoke first. "Tony, how are you holding up?" he asked in concern.

"I'm hanging in there," Tony replied. Out of all his teammates, he had grown closest to Bruce. "I appreciate the concern, but something has come up," he said. "Something that might take the whole team to clear up. I need you guys to get here as soon as you can," he told them. This caused the people on the video screen to pause. The last time they had needed all of them together had been the battle with Loki in New York.

Thor responded for the team. "We shall indeed be there as soon as the others get the flying conveyance at the top of the tower prepared," he assured Tony. "So long as you say _the_ words of course, friend Anthony," he added.

Tony looked annoyed. "Come on, that's stupid," he stated. "It sounds like something Steve would say," he complained.

Thor shook his head. "We can not come to your assistance without you saying the words," he reminded Tony with a straight face.

With a deep sigh, Tony looked at the floor and muttered, "Fine, you win." While Tony's eyes were cast down, Thor held out his hand and Steve pulled out a twenty from his pocket and handed it over.

Though she was sure the words Tony spoke next were not magical in any way, they still sent a shiver of power down Willow's spine. Tony looked up into the video screen and in a commanding voice ordered, "**Avengers... Assemble**!"


	5. Chapter 5

_**Previously on Avengers in Sunnydale:**_

_Though she was sure the words Tony spoke next were not magical_  
_in any way, they still sent a shiver of power down Willow's_  
_spine. Tony looked up into the video screen and in a commanding voice ordered, "Avengers… Assemble!"_

**Chapter 5**

While still looking at the other Avengers in the video screen,Tony said, "I'll brief you guys when you land at Stark Castle. There are a few things I don't want Fury to know yet and I wouldn't put it past him to bug this call." Tony watched Clint subtly nod his head to tell Tony that Fury routinely monitored their transmissions. "Take the time to make sure we have a full complement of toys before you get here," Tony insisted. "I'm pretty sure Sunnydale can manage another night without the full Avengers," he joked.

Steve Rogers shoved aside his irritation at losing the bet with Thor and quickly shifted his thoughts towards his team. "I think we should probably take the new cargo version of the Quinjet. If Bruce starts to get irritated, we can just open the back hatch and toss him out," he stated without any hint of sarcasm.

Buffy was expecting some sympathy chuckles for whichever of Tony's friends was Bruce, but she was surprised when his friends looked thoughtful instead. She watched as her uncle looked directly at the guy with the 5 o'clock shadow and haunted eyes. "Your call, Bruce," Tony said simply.

Bruce rubbed his chin in thought for a moment. "I think it's probably a good idea. Give me an hour and I think I can rig up a seat with quick release rollers that would speed up my departure if 'the other guy' decides to pay a visit," he stated. Buffy's eyebrow arched in further surprise when the rest of Tony's friends looked relieved at what Bruce had come up with. "Hold on a minute, Tony. I just remembered something," Bruce said. He stepped off screen for a moment and then came back into view holding an aluminium briefcase. "A courier from the Baxter Building dropped this off. He said it was the rush project Reed Richards had been working on for you," he told Tony.

"Oh thank god, Reed came through," Tony swore in relief. He looked back up into the screen. "The contents are actually for you, Bruce," he stated.

"What is it? Some new isotopes to study? " Bruce asked, intrigued.

Tony seemed to squirm a bit and then finally said, "Erm... underwear actually."

Bruce blanched and then stared at his friend. "Hey, Tony, you're a great friend and all, but I don't think of you that way. Besides, isn't lingerie usually a gift you give closer to valentine's Day," he joked.

The only response Tony felt was appropriate was the extension of his middle finger. "Ha... ha... smartass," he replied. "I went to Reed to see if he would make you some underwear based on the intelligent fabric he uses for his suit," he explained.

Bruce began to look concerned. "How did you manage to get him to release these?" he asked. "Reed keeps the process he uses to make the fabric a close secret," he added.

Tony sighed and replied, "I showed him video from the Toronto incident."

"Shit," Bruce swore.

******Flashback******

**Baxter Building, New York**

Tony Stark hummed along to the rock music being played in the elevator as he rode it to the top of the Baxter Building which housed the headquarters for the Fantastic Four. He was coming with a special request for his old schoolmate, Reed Richards. When the doors opened, he was let out into a large lab full of computers and lab equipment that even he was hard pressed to guess the nature of.

Reed Richards sat at a desk on the far wall and his hand was stretched 50 feet across the room to type commands into a console. His neck stretched out and around a large gas chromatograph so he could look at Tony. "Tony, good to see you," he said and then brought back his limbs and neck into regular proportions.

Tony was about to reply when he felt a quick kiss on his cheek. He turned to look at the empty air and then watched as Sue Richards materialized in front of him. Back when the three of them were in school, Tony had a brief fling with the then named Sue Storm before she started dating Reed. "Hey, Sue," he said warmly.

"Hello, Tony," Sue replied. "How's Pepper doing?" she asked.

"She's doing well. She asked me to tell you she's looking forward to your girls' night out Friday," Tony relayed.

The roof opened above Tony and he looked up as figure made up of flames flew into the building. Tony smiled and waved at Sue's younger brother. "How's it going, Johnny?" he shouted.

Johnny Storm landed in front of Tony and changed back into his human form. "Not bad, Tony," he replied. Johnny had heard Tony was stopping by and made it a point to be there. The Human Torch was supposed to go on a mission to South America the next day and wanted to ask Tony if the rumors about the Brazilian Women's Soccer team being hero groupies was true.

Reed walked over to Tony and shook his hand. "What can we do for you that Stark Industries can't?" he asked in a good natured fashion.

Tony took in a deep breath and then decided to just get right to it. "I need you to make several pair of underwear out of the same stuff you make your suit," he said quickly. "It's not for me, it's for Bruce," he hastily added. The three members of the Fantastic Four looked at Tony oddly. Tony sighed and held out a flash drive. "It'll be easier if you watch this," he suggested. "Just before you do, you should know it's rather... _graphic_," he warned them.

Reed took the flash drive and stretched his arm to plug it into a computer on the far side of the room. A large video screen descended from the ceiling and showed that the computer was loading the video file. "Before you press play, I have to ask if you if you know about Bruce's little problem," he stated.

Reed nodded. "You mean 'the other guy'?" he replied.

"Yeah, the Hulk," Tony stated. "Last week, Bruce and I attended a conference on applied sciences in Toronto, Canada," he said. "We weren't expecting any problems so we split up and went to different lectures in separate buildings," he told them. "Halfway into the talk on applied nanotechnology, I got a text from Bruce who was sitting in on a panel talking about the effects of radiation and the x-gene," he explained. "The text said Victor Creed had just smashed his way in and was trying to abduct the scientist sitting on the panel," he said.

"OK, so you guys were nerding out and Sabertooth crashed the party. What's the big deal?" Johnny asked.

Tony ran his hand through his black hair. "Like I said, we weren't expecting any problems. It was the one time Bruce decided to wear bikini briefs," he replied. Tony gestured towards the large video screen. "Just press play and you'll see why the world as a whole needs your help," he suggested.

Reed pressed the button and they watched a video taken from the perspective of Tony's Iron Man suit. Iron Man launched up into the air from a parking garage and angled over to a hotel across the street. A battered Sabertooth flew past him as the mutant was booted across town. An instant later, Iron Man's field of view was completely blocked by a pair of lime green butt cheeks as the Hulk leaped after Sabertooth. The green beast's deep voice could be heard chuckling and saying, "Hulk Naked!"

The image shifted as Iron Man rocketed after Hulk, hoping to keep the collateral damage to a minimum. He landed in a park where he found a very naked Hulk abusing Sabertooth. Ben Grimm had the unfortunate timing of walking into the lab at that very moment. He was eating ice cream out of a large salad bowl using a large wooden spoon. The spoon fell from his numb fingers as he saw what was happening on the video screen. "Dafuq are you guys watching?!" he demanded, scared that they might actually tell him. After a few more moments of watching, the Thing spun around and walked quickly out the room. "Butterflies and kittens... butterflies and kittens," he chanted, trying hard not to think about what he had just seen.

Reed pressed the stop button and turned off the video screen. He had a sickly green tint to his skin. Sue had become partially transparent as she lost concentration due to the scene she had witnessed. She took a deep calming breath and forced herself to become completely visible. "Tony, I could have gone my entire life and been happy not to have seen that," she scolded him.

Johnny was still staring at the now blank video screen. "I don't know if I want to laugh, or go curl up in a fetal position around a teddy bear and cry," he remarked.

Tony put a reassuring hand on the younger man's shoulder. "If it makes you feel any better, I _did_curl up into a fetal position afterwards," he admitted. "Of course it was around a bottle of scotch rather than a teddy bear, but you get the point," he said.

Reed looked over at Tony, shaken by what he had witnessed. "Tony, no one should ever have to see something like that," he said. "I'll have the items ready for you by the end of the week," he promised.

********End Flashback********

"Have you shown the video to anyone else?" Bruce asked, barely keeping his anger in check.

Tony smirked before asking. "Just one other person, and I gave him a copy of the flash drive," he replied. "Logan says we're his new best friends and we should each be expecting a case of cigars come christmas time," he said.

The image of Wolverine rolling on the floor laughing at Sabertooth's misfortune helped Bruce's anger seep away. "OK, just no one else," he pleaded. Tony nodded in agreement. Desperately wanting to change the subject, Bruce looked down at his watch. "It'll probably take us a couple of hours to do a full load out and then we'll head over to California," he said.

"OK, sounds like a plan," Tony stated. "I'll expect to see you guys first thing in the morning," he said before pressing the button that would change the video screen back to the large painting it had been when the Scoobies had first come into the room.

Buffy got up from the couch and walked to stand near Tony. Guessing from the pained looks on Bruce's face, she decided not to ask about whatever the Toronto incident was and why it involved underwear. Instead she decided to ask about why his friends were so open to the idea of tossing one of their own out the back of an airplane. "Your friend Bruce not a good flyer?" she inquired.

Tony shook his head no. "No, Bruce is fine with flying. He just has anger management issues," he replied causing Buffy to look even more confused. Tony noticed Buffy's look of disbelief. "I'll tell you all about my friends when they get here," he promised. "I don't want to ruin the surprise," he added with a smirk. Buffy rolled her eyes and plopped back down on the couch.

Thinking about his friends brought another strange group of people living under one roof to the forefront of Tony's mind. He turned to look at Giles. "Giles, now that I know demons and magic are more prevalent than what I thought, I just have to ask you something," he stated.

"I'll answer it if I can," Giles replied.

Tony nodded in thanks before going on. "Last week I walked in on my friend Steve channel surfing," he said. "Steve stopped on a show that was so bad it grabbed our attention and just wouldn't let go," he stated. "Considering all of the horrific shit Steve and I have seen over the years, that's saying something," he added.

"What were you guys watching?" Dawn chimed in.

"Jersey Shore," Tony admitted reluctantly.

Giles took off his glasses and cleaned them in an effort to hide his amusement. When he was sure he wouldn't laugh, Giles put his glasses back on. "I'm fairly certain I know what your question is, so I will answer it before you ask," he stated. "Yes… Oompa Loompas are real and they _can_mate with humans," he told Tony.

When Pepper realized exactly what Giles was implying, she let a disgusted, "Eeewwwww!"

Giles nodded towards Pepper in agreement. "Precisely," he said. The awkward silence formed by everyone thinking of the star of Jersey Shore was shattered by the sound of an ordinary doorbell ringing.

"Huh... I would have thought the castle would have a gong or something," Tony muttered as he made his way to a bookcase on the far wall.

Xander gave a half smile before saying, "It did, but Mast... Dracula said it gave him headaches."

Buffy looked down at her watch and frowned at how late it was. Late night visits usually meant only one thing in Sunnydale. "Are you expecting anyone?" she asked her uncle.

"Nope," Tony replied as he found the book he was looking for. He pulled it out slightly, activating the hidden switch. The bookcase slid into the wall and then to the right, revealing a narrow passageway that dropped into the basement. Two gleaming brass poles ran the length of the passageway from the ceiling to the floor of the basement below them.

Willow furrowed her brows when she saw the poles. "I didn't know Dracula was a fan of the old Batman show," she stated.

Tony spared a glance at Willow and then looked at the poles as if seeing them for the first time. "That actually makes more sense than what I was thinking," he admitted. Before anyone could ask, he added, "I thought they were for really tall and skinny strippers." Pepper rolled her eyes and Dawn let out a full guffaw. Tony looked at Buffy and winked, causing her to smile a bit. "Give me a couple of minutes to change and then _you_can go open the front door," he told her. Buffy nodded, knowing that Tony was a fast learner when it came to things that went bump in the night. Tony reached out with his hand and grabbed the pole before jumping down. He managed to throw in a complete spin around the pole before disappearing from sight, the hours spent at gentlemen clubs paying off.

The doorbell rang four more times as Buffy counted down the minutes. When she reached 5 minutes, she walked calmly down the entryway to the front door. The rest of the Scoobies were used to the drill and hid in the drawing room, waiting to add back-up if needed. The doorbell rang one last time as Buffy opened the door quickly and stepped back, ready to fight. She let out a snort of irritation when she saw the familiar blond vampire framed in the doorway. Spike was holding a paper bag in his left hand and his right arm was held out so Buffy couldn't see what else he was holding.

"Hello, Pet," Spike said cheerfully. "I saw that you lot were having a party so I nipped down to the liquor store and picked up some beer," he stated while lifting the paper bag slightly.

Buffy's frown grew more pronounced. "Go away, Spike!" she ordered. "This is a family gathering and you were not invited," she said acidly. "Besides, you know I hate beer," she added as almost an afterthought.

Instead of walking away, Spike just put on his usual charming smile. "Come on, Love, that's not very nice," he chided. "Besides, I also brought a party game," he told her. Spike pulled in his right arm and showed he was holding a goblin like demon off the ground by the collar of his dirty brown robe. "It's called 'Let's all beat the piss out the dirty, spying bugger'," Spike said, his voice becoming menacing.

The sounds of Iron Man's repulsor boots firing drew Spike's attention. Without thinking about it, the old vampire tossed his prisoner to the Slayer, turned around, and took up a protective stance in front of the door. His eyes grew wide when he watched Iron Man gently land on the gravel drive a few meters away. The red and gold armored figure was tapping a Louisville Slugger baseball bat across one palm. The bat looked like it had been put into the world's largest pencil sharpener because the end dwindled down to a needle fine point. "Damn... that's a big stake," Spike said in awe. He quickly regained control of himself. "Overcompensating for something, mate?" he taunted.

Dawn, who had always had a hard time following her sister's orders, walked down the entryway and squeezed past Buffy to get outside. "Hey, Spike," she called out to her friend.

Spike tightened his jaw and swore silently that he now had the only two humans he really gave a damn about in the middle of what looked like could become a nasty fight. "Niblet," he replied, putting out an arm to keep Dawn behind him.

Dawn sighed and ducked under Spike's arm. She strode to where she was standing on the gravel halfway between Iron Man and Spike. Turning her head, she looked at the vampire. "Spike, this is my uncle Tony Stark. Tony, this is Spike," she said introducing the two men.

"This vampire a friend of yours?" Iron Man's deep voice inquired. Jarvis had used the suit's various sensors to determine that the guy who looked a lot like Billy Idol (but with better hair) was not alive. He readied the suit for a quick launch of the super stake if Dawn said no.

"Yes," Dawn replied.

"No," Buffy said at the same time. She winced at the hurt look she got from both Dawn and Spike who had turned to look at her. "Well, not exactly a friend," she amended.

Spike let the end of his lips curl as he smiled slightly. "If we're not exactly friends, then how about we be 'friends-with-benefits'?" he suggested.

Buffy rolled her eyes in disgust and punched the goblin for no other reason than she was frustrated. "In your dreams, Spike," she scoffed.

"Everytime I close my eyes, Buffy. Every damn time," Spike replied wearily, looking his one time arch nemesis in the eyes. It was Buffy who looked away first.

Dawn looked over at Tony and rocked back and forth on her toes. "Well, that was awkward," she stated. Believing in the creed of it being easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, Dawn said, "Come on in, Spike."

Spike smiled down at Dawn who had closed the distance between them. "Thanks, Niblett, but the invitation has to come from someone who calls this castle home," he reminded her. In truth, he had been a little shocked when his earlier attempts at getting into the castle had been blocked. Whomever had bought the old place already thought of it as their home. Spike turned around again as he heard the crunching of gravel as Iron Man walked towards him. The metal man stopped within easy striking distance with his overgrown stake.

"Will you give me your word you won't hurt anyone inside my home?" Iron man asked, his voice even and measured.

Spike sighed loudly. He tapped his forehead, figuring Buffy or Dawn would tell their uncle about his chip eventually. "Those bloody wankers from the Initiative stuck a chip in my head that causes blinding migraines if I try to hurt a human," he informed Tony. Spike thought for a moment before speaking again. "The chip protects the Scoobies and any other human inside. On top of that, I swear on my unlife that I will never hurt Buffy or Dawn," he promised. Spike leered a little at Buffy and added, "That is unless of course Buffy likes it rough."

Buffy was going to say something snide, but Tony beat her to it. "Ah-hem, over protective uncle in super high tech armor holding a really big stake standing right here," Tony reminded Spike. He let the silence grow to an uncomfortable level before chuckling and letting his faceplate retract so Spike could see his face. "Come on in, Spike," he said with a smile. "Before I forget, what type of beer did you bring?" he asked.

Spike nodded in thanks and handed over the beer to Tony before walking into the castle. "Guinness, of course. I may be dead, but even my muted sense of taste won't let me drink American beer," he told Tony. Once inside, Spike took the goblin demon back from Buffy. He turned to look back at Tony. "I know you asked me not to hurt anyone inside the castle, but I really had my heart set on beating information about Glory out of this little ponce," he admitted.

Buffy saw Tony's eyes darken with remembered pain. "No torture unless absolutely necessary," he ordered.

Buffy had Willow look up her whatever they could find on Tony before they were picked up for dinner earlier. She knew Tony had been held captive in Afghanistan and could only imagine what they had done to him. "OK, but we really need all the information this little prick can give us," she said.

Tony smiled at Buffy, his grin making her let go of her anger. "Then it's lucky that I have the world's best interrogator on her way here," he told her thinking of Black Widow's legendary skills.

********Avengers in Sunnydale********

The sun had risen only an hour ago and Tony stark was standing at the back of the castle in front of a large, open lawn. He wasn't normally a morning person, but a few hours of breaking in the master bedroom with Pepper had really refreshed him. Buffy and her friends were slowly filtering out onto the porch since he had announced his friends from New York would be arriving soon. Spike was standing inside the castle, careful not to step into any direct sunlight. Pepper was giving the vampire company and stood next to him, sipping her morning coffee.

All eyes swung upwards when the sound of giant repulsors echoed off the stone walls. A dark gray jet hovered over the castle, the three repulsors on the bottom glowing a bright blueish white. The two rear facing repulsors fired briefly and the Quinjet eased into position over the lawn. Within moments, the large jet was settled on the ground, it's landing gear sinking into the soil. The back hatch lowered to the ground and the Avengers walked slowly out of the jet.

Buffy's eyes quickly swept over the group and she had to admit her first impressions told her these were fighters like her. The first man out had short brown hair and a handsome face. He was carrying a green army duffle bag in one hand and had a round shield strapped to his back. The shield was red, white, and blue with a white star in the center. Giles' startled gasp drew her attention for a moment.

Giles was staring at the man with the shield like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Every British child was taught in school what the man who had tipped the balance of war against the Nazis looked like. Giles had studied Captain America even more in the Watcher's Academy. Dr. Abraham Erskine, the man who invented the Super Soldier Serum, had been a rogue Watcher who believed he could use science to create a male version of the Slayer. Captain America's exploits during WWII proved that Dr. Erskine was correct. "My god, that looks like Steve Rogers," Giles muttered.

"Who?" Anya asked, not having paid much attention to things while she was a vengeance demon.

Dawn blinked her eyes a few times as she looked at Steve Rogers. Her history class had just finished a section on WWII and she had done her research paper on Captain America, mostly because of how cute she thought he was. "You know, Captain America," Dawn replied. Anya just shrugged her shoulders, still not getting the reference.

Tony spared a moment to look back at Dawn and winked. "I'll see if I can get Cap to give you an autograph," he joked, confirming the identity of the Super Soldier. Steve walked up to Tony and shook his hand, putting his other hand on the billionaire's shoulder in a gesture of condolence.

The next man out of the jet was dressed in what looked like black, leather armor. He had a bow and quiver of arrows strapped to his back. Buffy watched as the man's eyes swept over everything, filing away places that would give him the best field of fire. He walked over, shook Tony's hand, and took a place on Steve's left side.

A redheaded woman wearing a black, skin tight leather suit walked out of the jet next. She had matching pistols resting in holsters on her hips. Her wrists were encircled with bracelets made of shiny black tubes. Her costume and obvious beauty drew an appreciative, "She's hot!" from Xander. He flinched slightly when both Willow and Tara gave breathless mutters of agreement. The woman walked up to Tony, gave him a gentle hug, and then went to stand next to the archer. Giles frowned as he fought to remember where he had seen the woman before.

Buffy watched as the guy named Bruce walked out and looked around the property. His eyes held the shadows of someone who was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. He gave Tony a rough hug and then stepped back. Buffy's Slayer enhanced hearing let her hear Bruce whisper to Tony, "I'm going to have email Reed. These are the most comfortable pair of underwear I've ever worn. Although, I'm still not sold on the color." He frowned and cast a questioning glance at Tony. "Seriously, purple?" he inquired.

"Sue said she thought it would look good with green," Tony replied, hiding a smirk. Bruce shook his head and took up a place next to Black Widow.

The last person out of the jet was a tall, well built man. He had blond hair that flowed down around his broad shoulders. He was wearing a black t-shirt and blue jeans. A large hammer made out of something that looked like the cross between stone and metal hung from his belt on his hip. Dawn looked at her sister. "If he doesn't tell us what conditioner he uses, I say we ignore Tony's rule about torture and get it out of him one way or another," she joked. Buffy nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly.

Thor grasped Tony's forearms in an ancient showing of friendship. Tony arched an eyebrow at his friend and looked back at the jet. "How come you flew with the others?" he asked, knowing Thor could fly on his own and usually preferred to.

"Beverage service and in flight meals," Thor replied simply, grinning.

Tony smiled at Thor and went to stand next to Steve. He pointed at Buffy and then Dawn. "Guys, these are my nieces, Buffy and Dawn Summers," he said. He pointed out the Scoobies one by one as he went on. "That's Giles, Willow, Tara, Xander and Anya," he stated. He pointed into the house. "The blonde guy standing next to Pepper is called Spike," he said.

Tony stepped away from the Avengers and pointed at the Super Soldier. "Everyone, this is Steve Rogers. Most People know him as Captain America," he stated. "And before you ask, yes, he really is the same guy that handed the Nazis and Hydra their asses thanks to the work of Dr. Erskine and my grandfather, Howard Stark, Sr.," he added.

Tony walked down the line introducing his team. "This is Clint Barton, codename Hawkeye," he said. "Clint's the best archer in the world, and I mean that literally," he told them. Tony took a step and stood next the redheaded woman in black. "This is Natasha Romanova, codename Black Widow. She's considered the best interrogator alive and lives up to her nickname in combat," he said. "Together, she and Clint are probably the world's two most dangerous spies," he boasted.

Tony took another step and stood next to Bruce. "Everyone, this is my good friend, Dr. Bruce Banner," he said. Bruce smiled at Tony making a public showing of their friendship even though he knew how dangerous "the other guy" was.

"Does he have super powers or is he just a regular guy?" Xander asked, showing his usual lack of tact. Truth was, Bruce looked like an average guy and Xander was hoping to have someone to talk with.

Tony sighed and Bruce nodded, letting him know he was OK with his family and their friends knowing. "You ever seen the news when they talk about a giant, green guy trashing everything in sight?" The Scoobies all nodded their heads. After the green monster had first made national news, Willow and Giles had spent weeks trying to find out what it was. In the end, they had decided it had to be a new type of ogre they had never encountered before. Tony playfully hit Bruce in the chest with the back of his hand. "When Bruce gets mad, his mean, green side comes out to play. We call him the Hulk," he told the Scoobies.

Giles took off his glasses and wiped them with a cloth. "Oh my!" he muttered under his breath.

Tony ignored Giles and jerked his thumb at the guy with the long, blond hair. "And the male model over there is the Norse god, Thor Odinson," he said, letting the simple statement stun the Scoobies. Tony stepped back into line next to Thor. "We're the Avengers," he said proudly.

Anya had been stunned for a moment, but as soon as she regained her senses, she let out a loud, ear splitting squeal. "Oh my gods, oh my gods, oh my gods," she repeated as she ran up to Thor. "It's really you! You're even more handsome in person. Of course you are, you're you," she babbled. Thor looked sideways at Tony who just shrugged, not knowing what was up with Anya. Anya noticed the look and decided she needed to explain herself. "I used be known as Aud Emmasdaughter. I ran the Brownshold's chapter of your fanclub. I had every wood carving they made of you," she gushed.

"Aud Emmasdaughter?" Thor repeated, the name teasing at the back of his memory. "Were you the one who kept sending me your undergarments at every winter solstice celebration?" he inquired.

Anya let out another deafening squeal. "Oh my gods, Thor Odinson remembers me," she shouted happily.

Giles took off his glasses and cleaned them again. "Good lord, Anya may have possibly been the world's first fangirl," he muttered to no one in particular.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Previously on Avengers in Sunnydale:**_  
_Tony ignored Giles and jerked his thumb at the guy with the long, blond hair. "And the male model over there is the Norse god, Thor Odinson," he said, letting the simple statement stun the Scoobies. Tony stepped back into line next to Thor. "We're the Avengers," he said proudly._

_Anya had been stunned for a moment, but as soon as she regained her senses, she let out a loud, ear splitting squeal. "Oh my gods, oh my gods, oh my gods," she repeated as she ran up to Thor. "It's really you! You're even more handsome in person. Of course you are, you're you," she babbled. Thor looked sideways at Tony who just shrugged, not knowing what was up with Anya. Anya noticed the look and decided she needed to explain. "I used be known as Aud Emmasdaughter. I ran the Brownshold's chapter of your fan club. I had every wood carving they made of you," she gushed.__  
_  
_  
_"_Aud Emmasdaughter?" Thor repeated, the name teasing at the back of his memory. "Were you the one who kept sending me your undergarments at every winter solstice celebration?" he inquired._  
_  
__Anya let out another deafening squeal. "Oh my gods, Thor Odinson remembers me," she shouted happily.__  
_  
_  
__Giles took off his glasses and cleaned them again. "Good lord, Anya may have possibly been the world's first fangirl," he muttered to no one in particular._

**Chapter 6**

Giles was desperately thinking of anything he could do to help extricate the Norse god from the clutches of the rabid fangirl when his cell-phone rang. He looked down at his phone curiously before answering it. It was a few minutes before 7 in the morning and the only people who might call that early were all standing on the lawn near him. A quick glance at the caller id showed it was an unlisted number. "Hello," Giles said hesitantly after accepting the call.

Buffy's and Spike's supernatural hearing were able to pickup both sides of the conversation. The Slayer recognized the other voice as belonging to the head of the Watcher's Council, Quentin Travers. "Giles, I expect you to bring the Slayer and her… _friends_ to your pathetic excuse for a shop at precisely 1100 hrs," Travers said arrogantly.

"The meeting was supposed to take place next week. I'm not sure Buffy can alter her schedule at such a late notice," Giles replied tersely.

Travers let out a snort of displeasure. "The Slayer is our tool and will do what she is ordered to, or we can arrange for a new Slayer to be called," he threatened. "We will interview her so called friends and William the Bloody in order to make our determination if she is worthy of our help in defeating Glory," he stated. "We will also discuss whether or not your deportation hearing will be taking place," Travers said, his voice dripping with malice.

Giles sighed deeply, forcing his anger under layers of British civility. "I understand," he stated. "We will be there at 11 o'clock," he promised. Without saying anything more, he hung up on his old boss. Giles put his phone back in his pocket and looked over at Buffy. "Did you hear all of that?" he inquired.

Buffy nodded in response. "Why did travers move up the meeting?" she asked.

Giles took off his glasses and cleaned them with a cloth before answering. "I believe he wishes to keep you off balance and assumes that forcing the meeting so soon after your mother's death will give him an advantage," he replied. Giles noticed that Tony's jaw clenched and Thor's fingers unconsciously started to curl around the shaft of his legendary hammer. Giles felt much better knowing that there were other adults to share in the task of looking out for his "daughter".

Tony forced himself to relax and think like a CEO instead of a protective uncle. His sharp mind snapped to the problem at hand and he looked at his teammates. "Clint, this is going to sound crazy, but Sunnydale is crawling with real vampires and a few demons. There's also some sort of super demon named Glory out there that could probably squash my suit like a tin can," he said, knowing how that sounded. Trusting that Hawkeye was not only the best archer alive, but was also unequalled when it came to doing recon on the enemy he added, "I need you to head out and scout the town. Figure out the best places for us to force confrontations and see if you can find where the bitch stays."

Clint rubbed his jaw as he thought for a moment. He turned to look at his partner. "Hum… what do you think, Natasha? Plan Victor 8 or Victor 10?" he asked her, trusting her judgment.

After only a brief moment, Natasha replied, "Victor 10 of course. That plans not only covers a town full of vampires but also gives leeway for other, larger threats."

Bruce frowned at the SHIELD agents. "You guys actually planned on facing a town full of vampires someday?" he asked incredulously.

Clint shrugged his shoulders before answering. "We work for SHIELD. We have a plan for everything," he said as if everyone knew that.

Natasha chuckled. "My favorite supernatural plan is Delta William 7," she said. When she was sure everyone was looking at her, she continued. "The plan is a 'what-if' scenario where all of the characters at Disney World are secretly replaced by zombies in disguise and have taken control of the theme park for an entire week," she explained. "All of the senior agents manage to go on a training mission covering DW-7 once a year," she stated.

Tony smiled in appreciation of the agents giving "the man" the finger. "I love that you guys manage to get SHIELD to pay for a week's vacation at Disney World out of their training budget," he said with a smile.

Clint smiled back. "We actually do get some training in to ease our consciences," he admitted. "We use our stealth and infiltration skills and see who can get the highest number of photo bombs in during the week," he said.

Steve looked appalled. "You smuggle bombs into a theme park?!" he asked in a disgusted voice.

Everyone but Thor and Giles chuckled at Steve's misconception. Tony put an affectionate arm around the Super Soldier's shoulders. "Steve, do remember that photo those co-eds from New York University asked to take with you?" he inquired.

Steve glared at Tony. "Yes, it would have been a lovely photo if you hadn't been making those ridiculous gestures in the background," he replied.

Tony smiled while he nodded. Steve's expression had been priceless when the co-eds sent him a copy of the photo and asked if Tony was seeing anyone. "I photo bombed you," he explained. Before Steve could complain more, Tony turned back to face Clint. "The garage is on the other side of the castle. Take whatever car or motorcycle you want. Keys are in a box on the North wall," he told Hawkeye. Clint nodded, picked up his duffle bag, and trotted off towards the garage to pick out a ride.

Tony gestured towards the house. "Natasha, we have less than four hours to get all the information we can from a spy we captured last night," he told the Black Widow. "Buffy, take Natasha and Spike down to the dungeon. I want you to watch how Natasha interrogates our _guest_," he ordered. "Whether it's on the battlefield or in the boardroom, information is the most powerful weapon you can get your hands on," he said, trying to sound wise.

"That's quite insightful and something I have been trying to get across to Buffy for several years now," Giles said, looking at Buffy pointedly.

Tony blushed and looked down at the ground in embarrassment when Pepper cleared her throat. "It… um… took someone very close to me several years to beat it into my head as well," Tony admitted. He looked up at Buffy, winked, and muttered, "Must be genetic." Buffy winked back and led Natasha into the castle.

Once Buffy was inside, Tony turned to look at the other Avengers. "I'm going to let the Scoobies bring you guys up to speed," he said, gesturing towards Buffy's friends. "Pepper and I have some business to take care of," he added.

"Wow! You two have sex more often than Xander and I do," Anya remarked, causing Steve to blush and Bruce to chuckle. Anya let go of Thor and scowled at Xander. "How come we only sex three times a day?" she pouted.

Tony shook his head in amusement. "As much as the thought of driving my beautiful girlfriend to orgasmic bliss appeals to me, I was being literal," he said, causing Steve to blush even more. "Pepper is the CEO of my company and we have work to do," he stated. Tony paused as new plans sprang into his head. "Dawn, I want you to join us. It's time you started to learn the family business," he suggested. "Giles, we're going to need your help as well," he added.

Two hours later, the Avengers and the Scoobies met up in the large drawing room. Bruce looked like a kid in a candy store. He had dismissed the concept of magic at first but after Willow and Tara demonstrated it to him and explained it was an energy field, he started adjusting the equipment in his new lab to try and learn everything he could about it. Thor on the other hand wasn't as happy. At that moment, the god of thunder was standing behind a couch, trying to keep at least one piece of furniture between him and Anya at all times.

Giles and Dawn had very self-satisfied smirks on their faces after their session with Pepper and Tony. It was obvious to Giles why Stark Industries had risen to become the world's fifth largest corporation. On their own, either Pepper or Tony would be formidable, but as a pair, they were unstoppable. Tony and Pepper had taken turns teaching Dawn things and the young woman took to it like a fish to water. The addition of a third, strong mind to the team was going to leave the business world struggling to just keep up. Giles' smirk also stemmed from the generous job offer Tony had made him.

Buffy, Spike, and Natasha were the last three to arrive and they all looked a little disturbed. Tony noticed their expressions. "Judging from the looks on your faces, I take it we're in for a rough ride?" he inquired.

Natasha nodded in agreement. "Oh yeah, plus that was the creepiest interrogation I have ever conducted," she replied.

Spike shuddered as he thought about the _chat_ they had with Glory's minion. "Every time one of us would threaten the bugger with violence, the creepy little guy started sporting some goblin wood," he explained while holding up the pinky on his right hand to indicate the size of said wood.

"It was only after Natasha threatened _not_ to beat him senseless that 'Susan' started spilling everything he knew," Buffy added.

Steve's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "I thought you said it was he," he said, stuck on the goblin being called Susan.

Spike stalked over to the liquor cabinet, opened a bottle of whiskey, and drank straight from the bottle. "It is male. He said his name was Susan and he asked us to respect his life choices," he choked out, not sure if he wanted to laugh or drink away those memories.

Tony shook his head to clear it. "Riiiiight," he muttered. "So um… what did 'Susan' have to tell us?" he inquired.

Buffy looked at Dawn, sadness casting a shadow over her face. She took a deep breath and put on a brave expression. "Turns out Glory isn't a demon, she's actually a hell goddess," she replied.

"Dear lord," Giles swore softly. He sagged and eased himself into one of the large, overstuffed chairs. "A demon we could deal with, but a god…" he stammered, not able to finish his sentence.

Tony cleared his throat, smiling at Giles. "Hey Giles, cheer up. Our side has a god too," he said, pointing towards Thor. The Norse god gave Giles a predatory smile and ran his hand over his hammer.

Giles perked up almost instantly. "Good point," he conceded. He focused on Buffy again. "What other information did Susan give us?" he asked.

Spike chuckled softly. "We found out Susan likes purple lingerie and is a size 10," he replied.

Giles moaned and rubbed the spot between his eyebrows. "What _useful_ information was provided during the interrogation?" he rephrased.

Natasha stepped forward, stopping the exchange between Spike and Giles. "Glory is looking for something called the Key that she believes will let her get back to her own dimension," she stated. "According to Susan, Glory expects the gateway created would literally cause Hell on Earth as the opening would allow a large portion of the hell dimension to flood into ours," she explained.

"Well, that... sucks," Tony commented dryly.

The group nodded their heads in agreement. Natasha went on. "We also learned that Glory is having problems maintaining her form and sanity in our world and is draining the mental essence out of random people around Sunnydale. By sucking out their minds, she leaves roaming mental patients in her wake," she told them. "I was also able to get Glory's real name out of Susan so we can do more research on her. Turns out Glory is short for Glorificus," she stated.

"GLORIFICUS!" Thor bellowed, smashing an end table next to the couch he was standing behind. He immediately started shouting out curses in a language Giles identified as a variation of ancient Norse.

Tony shook his head and pulled out his smartphone and quickly opened his custom app that translated spoken Norse to written English. Buffy and Dawn crowded around their uncle to see what he was reading. Dawn pointed at the screen and said, "Dibs on that one. I want to use that phrase the next time my math teacher starts being a jerk."

Buffy rolled her eyes and then she pointed at the screen. "Fine, but I get to use that one on Faith if she ever gets out prison," she countered.

Thor continued to rant in his native language causing Tony, Buffy, and Dawn to chuckle at some of his more colorful phrases. Eventually, Thor said something that caused the three of them to cock their heads to the right in confusion in exactly the same way. Pepper recognized the motion in her boyfriend and realized the girls must have learned it from their mother. She smiled as the image drove home the fact that these girls were Tony's family.

Dawn looked at first Buffy and then Tony. "Does that last one make any sense to either of you?" she inquired. Tony and Buffy both shook their heads no.

Thor stopped ranting and looked over at the confused family. "The device Tony has probably had a difficult time translating that last word," he said. "It refers to a badger with a bad case of the mange," he explained.

Tony and his nieces looked back down at the phone and reread it. Dawn was the first to chuckle. She looked up at Thor and told him, "Here in the U.S., they call it a 'beaver' instead of a badger." Buffy shot her sister a dark look for even knowing that type of language. This only caused Dawn to roll her eyes.

Tony put away his phone and tried to give Thor a stern look, but the corners of his mouth kept turning up in an attempt at a smile. "Do you kiss Freya with that mouth?" he joked.

Thor took a deep breath to calm himself. "Forgive me, friend Tony, for spouting such filth in the presence of your nieces. It was unbecoming of a Prince of Asgard," he apologized. "Any time I think of that… mangy badger… my blood boils," he said, winking at Dawn and earning him a dirty look from Buffy. "Many eons ago, Glory and Loki dated and it did not end well. I spent many days consoling my brother," Thor stated. Even after the battle of New York, the Avengers could still hear the affection in their friend's voice we he spoke of his adopted brother.

Tony rubbed his chin in thought. "Ok, so we're dealing with a skanky hell-bitch with terrible taste in men," he summed up. "What can she do that us normal folks can't?" he inquired.

"She's as strong as the finest warriors Asgard can muster," Thor replied. "Unfortunately even though our physical strength is about even, Glory's speed is far superior to mine," he admitted. "I also remember her mentioning something about being invulnerable to physical attacks while she is on Midgard," he added.

Xander wasn't happy with what he heard. "Tony was right, this sucks!" he exclaimed. "We have a super powered hell-bitch wanting to turn our little part of the world into New Jersey and nothing we do can hurt her!" he complained.

Tara raised her hand as if she were in a classroom. Tony nodded at her to go ahead and speak. "My Willow was able to hurt her with magic," she said proudly and squeezed Willow's hand.

"That is good to hear, Tara," Thor praised. "I know that weapons from my realm can hurt her. My sword sister, Sif, gave Glory a black eye with my father's spear," he stated.

Bruce had a faraway look as he thought about what Tara had said. "Hey Tony, if Glory is affected by magical energy, we can see if we can tweak the frequency of your chest blaster and repulsors to help you pack more of a punch," he suggested. "I'll need Willow and Tara to perform more magic in my lab so I can narrow down the frequency range," he said.

"Just let Jarvis know know what you need and he'll start another armor variant," Tony replied.

Dawn sat through all of the horrifying revelations about the being wanting to control her with a deepening feeling of guilt in the pit of her stomach. Tony and his friends were willing to risk their lives to protect her even when they didn't know the whole truth. She made a decision that had been gnawing at her since Tony had come into their lives. Dawn stood and looked Buffy in the eyes. With a small jerk of her head, Dawn indicated the hallway. Buffy nodded and silently made her way out of the room. Dawn walked over to Tony and put her hand on his arm. "Tony, Buffy and I need to talk to you in private," she told him. The seriousness in her voice had Tony allowing himself to be led out the room.

Once they were in the hallway, Buffy led them into a library she had seen during her first visit to the castle when it had been owned by Dracula. They walked in and Dawn shut the heavy oak door behind them. Intensely curious, Tony broke the silence. "I take it this is an emergency family meeting," he stated needlessly.

Buffy took in a deep breath and said, "We know what the Key is." She looked at Dawn for a split second and then added, "Or more importantly _who_ the Key is."

Dawn took over the explanation. "The Key started out as a big ball of cosmic energy floating through the various dimensions," she said. "A group of monks called the Order of Dagon used magic to make the Key a human body," she stated. "They used Buffy's blood to make that body so she would be willing to protect the Key. They went as far as implanting false memories in everyone connected with Buffy to make them think the Key had been around for years," she explained.

Tony saw a tear slide down Dawn's cheek. Even the emotionally stunted playboy could see the fear of rejection in her eyes. It didn't take his genius part to figure out who they were talking about. "Did Joyce know?" he asked simply. Buffy fought back her own tears and nodded. "Did she still think of Dawn as her daughter?" he inquired. This broke through Buffy's emotional walls and she started to cry as she nodded.

Tony reached over and pulled Dawn into a tight hug. Tony kissed the top of her head and whispered, "You're my neice and nothing is going to change that." The teenage girl sobbed in relief and let her tears flow freely on the front of Tony's shirt. Tony let go with one arm and motioned for Buffy to join them. The Slayer accepted and hugged her uncle and sister.

Pepper opened the door to tell Tony and the girls that they needed to get ready to drive into Sunnydale to set up the special reception they had planned for the Watcher's Council. Her heart caught in her throat when she saw Tony hugging his nieces. She started to walk out the door backwards when Tony looked up and caught her eyes with his. "Excuse me, this is a family moment," he chided her. Pepper was about to flee out of the room when he added, "So get your gorgeous butt over here and join us!" Pepper rushed over and wrapped her arms around the man she loved and two girls who she decided were going to be her nieces as well.

******Avengers in Sunnydale******

Quentin Travers strode into the Magic Shop as if he owned the place. He turned the open sign over to read closed as the rest of his team flowed into the store. He brought along two researchers as well as a mage to force the Slayer back into her proper role as the Council's tool. He glanced around the room and saw that the Slayer's friends - Xander Harris, Willow Rosenberg, and Tara Maclay were sitting on a small couch near the far wall. William the Bloody was standing in the shadows near the couch. The traitor, Rupert Giles, was standing behind the sales counter with a woman the files identified as Anya Jenkins. The Slayer was seated at a table that had three empty chairs. Oddly, the Slayer's sister was not there. "_No matter. I'll have the traitor bring her to me later,"_ Travers thought.

Travers took a seat opposite Buffy at the table and waved his team to take their assigned places. The female researcher walked over towards Spike while the mage took up a place to counter the witch Rosenberg if needed. He sneered at the Slayer and wasn't prepared for her to smile back at him and then nod towards Giles. The ex-watcher nodded back and reached below the counter. Giles had a wide smile plastered on his face as he brought a large bowl of popcorn from the lower shelf and put it on the counter between himself and Anya. He grabbed a handful of popcorn and tossed some in his mouth.

Traver's head moved quickly as he looked around the room. Everyone but his team and Spike were smiling. The ancient vampire had a sneer that made Travers very, very worried. The two fingered salute Spike gave him made Travers even more uncomfortable. "What is going on here?!" Travers demanded.

Sounds from the back drew Travers' attention as a dark haired man in a very expensive suit walked out from the back room. He was wearing designer sunglasses and had a glass of bourbon in his hand. The Slayer's sister followed the man out. She was wearing matching sunglasses and was slurping noisily on a milkshake. Tony and Dawn took the two empty seats at the table.

"Glad you asked that. I was wondering the same thing myself," Tony replied as he swirled his liquor around in his glass. "For instance, why does some stuffy bastard think he can come over here and boss around my niece and her friends," he stated conversationally.

Travers glared at the newcomer with utter distaste. "This is a private meeting and you need to leave... now!" he ordered.

Tony tapped his chin with his finger and pretended to think Traver's demand over. "Let's see, this meeting is all about my niece, so how about we ask her if I can stay?" he countered.

"Glad to have you have you here, uncle Tony," Buffy said warmly.

Tony looked over at Giles. "This is your place," he stated. "Do you mind if I stay for the meeting?" he asked.

Giles smiled at his new boss. "You're always welcome in my shop, Mr. Stark," he replied.

Tony shifted in his seat to slouch and drape his arm across the back of the chair to make it look like he hadn't a care in the world. "Looks like you're out voted," he told Travers.

Travers crossed his arms across his chest in a show of arrogance. "I have no intention of discussing anything with you in the room or even on the same block," he spit out.

Buffy stood up from the table, drawing Traver's attention. "Would that be the discussion about Glory being a hell goddess, the one about you threatening to have Giles deported, or the one where you threaten me in an attempt to bring me back under your control?" she inquired coldly. Buffy stalked away from the table to walk behind the sales counter.

Travers had not risen through the ranks of the Watcher's Council to become their leader for nothing. Even though his plans had been dealt a major blow by the Slayer already knowing about Glory, he kept on fighting to regain control of the whole situation. "Do you honestly think you have the resources to fight Glory without our help?" he asked acidly.

Buffy bent down to retrieve something from behind the counter. When she stood back up, she had a red, white, and blue shield in one hand and a heavy hammer made out of an unknown material that resembled that fusion of stone and metal. She walked back to the table and put both items in the center. "Yeah, I think we'll do ok with the resources we have," she replied.

The male researcher for the Council walked over to the table and tapped the shield. The unique sound the vibranium gave off told him the shield was genuine. He was about to ask where she had found Captain America's shield when the mage gasped as he looked at the hammer with his magical sight. "My gods... that's... that's Mjolnir!" the mage swore.

A deep voice called out from the back room. "Buffy, have you seen my hammer?" it inquired.

"It's in here, Thor," Buffy replied. "I borrowed it to show the Council of Impotence why we don't need them," she added.

The group from the Watcher's Council gasped as the god of Thunder walked into the room in his full battle armor. He walked behind Travers and pointed at Mjolnir. "Ponder that, mortal," he commanded.

Travers looked to where Thor was pointing and read the inscription that seemed to be etched inside the metal instead of on the surface. The words read, "_**Whosoever holds this hammer, if they be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor."**_

"Pick it up," Thor ordered Travers. The head of the watcher's Council reached forward and was unable to move the legendary hammer at all. It resisted every attempt he made to either lift or push the hammer. "None but those who are truly worthy may even hold Mjolnir," Thor reminded Travers.

Without any sign of strain or effort, Buffy picked up the hammer and handed it back to Thor. "Not only has Thor Odinson vowed to help us fight Glory, but he promised to bring me a case of Asgardian hair conditioner when we're done," she told the group.

"Lucky bitch," the female researcher muttered and then turned red when she realized she had said the words out loud. "Sorry," she apologized.

Travers glared at the female researcher and then at Buffy. "You're making a huge mistake, Ms. Summers," he warned the Slayer. "The Watcher's Council is not something you want as your enemy," he told her.

Dawn slurped loudly on her shake to draw Travers' attention. "Why?" she asked simply.

"Excuse me?" Travers replied, confused.

"Why should we fear the Council?" Dawn repeated. "It's not like you guys have any real power," she said, holding out her hand behind her. Anya came out from behind the counter and gave Dawn the two files Tony and Pepper had put together that morning.

Travers shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I'll have you know little girl, that the Watcher's Council posses power far beyond what you can imagine," he told her.

Dawn pulled her sunglasses down on her nose a bit so she could look over the top of them at Travers. "Reall? 'Cause I always thought you were just a bunch pervs who got off on watching young girls and controlling their lives," she shot back. "I don't see where a bunch of voyeurs have any real power, and if the power you're talking about is financial... well, I have some bad news for you," she stated as she slid the first folder across the table to Travers.

Travers complexion paled more after each document he looked at. "From what my uncle and his girlfriend told me, the problem with creating shell companies to hide your money is that the farther removed from you the company is, the longer it takes to find out someone bought it out from under you," she told Travers. "As of this morning, Stark Industries owns what used to be the financial base of the Watcher's Council," she said smugly.

Tony sipped his bourbon and then put the glass tumbler down on the table using Captain America's shield as a giant coaster. "Apart from the cash you currently have in your wallet, the Council's liquid assets are somewhere halfway between jack and shit," he explained. Tony motioned with his hand and Dawn slid the other folder to Travers. "As for you threatening Giles with deportation, that folder contains files on all of you operatives and high level Council members worldwide," he said. "You so much as think of screwing around with my family, friends, or employees and I'll have SHIELD round you guys up faster than you can blink and drop you off in some backwoods county jail in Arkansas," he threatened.

The Council's mage turned to look at Giles, the question obvious in his expression. "The residents of that particular state make the Welsh look civilized," Giles told him. Several of the Council team swallowed hard, their mouths suddenly going dry. Giles looked at Travers. "Just so you know, Mr. Stark has offered me the job of being vice-president in charge of paranormal research for Stark Industries and I accepted," he said smugly. "From what my employer has told me, the US State Department has standing orders to not irritate Stark Industries," he added, completely neutering Travers' threats of deportation.

The female researcher walked over to the counter. "Out of curiosity, how much did Stark offer you?" she asked Giles. The ex`watcher wrote down a number on a slip of paper and passed it over to one time colleague. Her eyes widen as she saw the number of zeros involved. "Need any assistants?" she asked sincerely.

Giles made eye contact with Travers and said, "Glad to have you on board, Ms..." he said, realizing he didn't know the woman's name.

"Megan Williams," the woman replied. She turned around and stared at Travers. "You're an arsehole," she told him, glad to finally be able to say what she had been thinking for years.

Travers slid his finger under his shirt collar, suddenly feeling like it was far too tight. Tony saw the tell and moved in for the kill. "What I need from you right now is some glimmer of a reason for thinking you and your council still have relevance here," he stated.

The male researcher blurted out, "Glory isn't the only one looking for the Key."

"Shut up!" Travers commanded.

The male researcher went on like he hadn't heard his boss. "There is a militant religious order known as the Knights of Byzantium," he said. "They have pledged to destroy the Key to keep it out of Glory's hands," he stated.

Giles nodded, processing this new information. "If you can put together everything you know about these knights, I might consider taking you in as another assistant in my department," he said. "I think I can safely say Stark Industries is willing to offer you a tenth of my salary," he told the researcher. The female researcher who had seen how much Giles was going to be making looked at her partner and nodded her head quickly, telling him it was a very good deal.

"Mike Ohnson, Mr. Giles," the male researcher said as he walked over and shook Giles' hand. "Glad to be working with you, sir," he added.

Tony clapped his hands once and said, "And that concludes today's meeting." He looked at Travers and then at the front door. Thor made a fist and then rubbed it with his other hand. Travers took the implied threat for what is was and hurried out of the store with his mage following close behind.

After the door shut and Travers' car sped off, Giles turned back to look at his friends. "I enjoyed that immensely!" he told them.

Steve Rogers walked out from the back room and took one look at his shield on the table. "Damnit, Tony! You know that will leave rings!" he shouted as he grabbed a rag and rushed to move the glass tumbler and wipe away the condensation.


End file.
